Top Movies of 2013/14; #2 "Gravity"

Journal: February 2014

Google Description... Dr. Ryan Stone is a brilliant medical engineer on her first shuttle mission, with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky. But on a seemingly routine spacewalk, disaster strikes. The shuttle is destroyed, leaving Stone and Kowalsky completely alone - tethered to nothing but each other and spiraling out into the blackness. The deafening silence tells them they have lost any link to Earth...and any chance for rescue. As fear turns to panic, every gulp of air eats away at what little oxygen is left. But the only way home may be to go further out into the terrifying expanse of space.

My Review... This isn't a complicated movie. Disaster strikes. Woman falls off shuttle. Woman, against all odds, must find a way to survive. The journey between point A and B is what makes this film. Between those two points, you experience awe when gazing upon our planet, you feel the loneliness of space, you know helplessness, you become weightless, you fear and your rejoice. 

"Gravity" is unlike anything I've seen. Only two films, I can think of, compare to it's sheer beauty: "The Fountain" and "The Tree of Life." All three dazzle the viewer with the power of cinema, but neither moves you like "Gravity." For this reason alone, I feel "Gravity" was worthy of the high praise it received during the Oscars. 

Now, I know scientists and astrophysicists have had a field day with the plausibility of this movie. Maybe some of their complaints are warranted, but from what I've read very little of our belief is required to be suspended to enjoy this film. Ultimately, movies are about telling a story and this one told a damn compelling one. 

Thanks for entering my world, 

-Nathan