you hold me without touch

"What do you like the most about this place?"

"Silence."

I know I am extremely late to the whole hoo-ha regarding Alfonso Cuarón's highly critically-acclaimed film Gravity (2013), but that shan't stop me from heaping praise on this masterpiece. 

For those who do not know, the film chronicles medical engineer Dr. Ryan Stone's (Sandra Bullock) catastrophic experiences as she attempts to survive, after debris hits the space shuttle she is working on and destroys everything in its path, with another astronaut (George Clooney) providing her with aid along the way. It is a tale of survival, faith and the overcoming of adversity. 

Although Bullock gives an incredible performance that grants her a well-deserved Oscar nomination, in my opinion, the most marvellous part of this almost-perfect film is its much-lauded direction and cinematography. Due to the use of visual metaphors, the film's themes never come across as overly pedantic and instead are given a spiritual significance. 

Furthermore, the fact that Cuarón managed to pull off an 'impossible' film should warrant more applause and appreciation, as the scenes of spacewalking and Stone spinning uncontrollably in space are given a never-before-seen heightened sense of realism. Shots taken from Stone's perspective are extremely dizzying, as the view of Earth below highlights the magnitude and distance between home and the merciless void of Space. Moreover, the dichotomous nature of Space itself being both beautiful and frightening, is underscored with the juxtaposition of Stone's calamities and the breathtaking view of our blue planet at sunrise, dusk and after dark. With its feats in cinematography, it simply pisses me off right now that I have to watch this film (which was specifically crafted for IMAX 3D) from a 13" laptop screen, as its release date was during the period before my dreaded A levels last year (fuck you very much), causing me to be unable to watch it in the cinemas!

If Gravity does not win the Best Cinematography at the Oscars this year, anger and resentfulness will literally flow out of every pore in my body, because c'mon let's take a look at some of my favourite mise-en-scenes:

Two words: pure genius. I'm sure you would have to agree with me - Earth has never looked so authentic and yet these are simply computer generated images from the minds of a talented director and cinematographer. My favourite shot would be the third one from the top, which features Stone in a fetal position with the tubes nearby resembling an umbilical cord. According to Cuarón, the scene represents Stone's rebirth after surviving multiple calamities, and is a masterful way of representing thematic concerns without awkwardly inserting them into the dialogue, which many directors are guilty of (I'm looking at you, O. Russell!).

Gravity - one of the best films of 2013 and an example of the unbridled possibilities CGI can bring us in the future.