The Eclectic Cinema is showing the Gravity on Monday 11th November 2024 in the Cheltenham Playhouse. Directed by Alfonso Cuarón, cert 12, USA/UK 2013, 91 min, Trailer
Kicking off the so-called Mexican Oscars takeover (the award for Best Director went to a Mexican director five years out of six) was Alfonso Cuarón’s 2013 Sci-Fi epic Gravity, which won 7 statues from 10 nominations.
The film opens in the endless expanse of space during routine maintenance by a Space Shuttle crew: the confident, easy-going Kowalski (George Clooney) and the nervous, inexperienced Stone (Sandra Bullock). A familiar voice from Houston Mission Control reports that an unrelated missile strike on a satellite has created a field of debris orbiting the Earth at lethal speed. They are hit, severed from their safety tethers, sent careering into the blackness and left to find a way to get home, with little chance of survival.
Thanks in no small part to Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 magnum opus 2001: A Space Odyssey, the influence of which can be felt here, Sci-Fi has long been a vehicle for filmmakers’ expression to be let loose, and so it proves here. With plot points that throw the reality of the journey into question, there are heavy philosophical undertones and images that serve anything but the story, making this much more than a genre picture.
Cuarón’s direction is arguably secondary to the immersive cinematography from compatriot Emmanuel Lubezki, who himself scored a hat-trick of consecutive Oscar wins starting with his work here: he later also won for Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman (2014) and The Revenant (2015). With few visual bearings to anchor us in space, our perspective is constantly shifting in some of the most dynamic (yet not disorientating) camerawork ever seen. The best example is the oft-enthused opening 17-minute-long take, the technical genius of which has become a touchstone, while also serving effectively to introduce the main characters.
This UK-produced film, a symphony of visual effects created by British studio Framestore, uses groundbreaking filming techniques and wonderful editing to take us into outer space. It is visually stunning, even astonishing. And, of course, it’s a must-see on the big screen.
Tickets can be purchased online here or alternatively you may telephone the box office on 01242 522852. They endeavour to operate the box office for personal and telephone callers from 10am – 4pm Tuesday – Friday and from 10am – 2.30pm on Saturdays, plus 90 minutes before a performance in the evening.
Cheltenham Film Society members are able to get complimentary tickets to try out The Eclectic Cinema and will receive an email detailing this offer.