{"id":15541,"date":"2013-10-11T23:32:39","date_gmt":"2013-10-11T22:32:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/?p=15541"},"modified":"2014-08-27T15:46:23","modified_gmt":"2014-08-27T14:46:23","slug":"lff-2013-gravity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/2013\/10\/11\/lff-2013-gravity\/","title":{"rendered":"LFF 2013: Gravity"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Sandra-Bullock-and-George-Clooney-in-Gravity-Image-courtesy-of-Warner-Bros-2013.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-15542\" src=\"http:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Sandra-Bullock-and-George-Clooney-in-Gravity-Image-courtesy-of-Warner-Bros-2013.jpg\" alt=\"Sandra Bullock and George Clooney in Gravity - Image courtesy of Warner Bros 2013\" width=\"560\" height=\"280\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Director Alfonso Cuaron returns after seven year absence from cinema with an exhilarating journey into outer space that sets new standards for visual effects.<\/p>\n<p>When a seemingly routine US mission to fix the Hubble telescope goes disastrously wrong, two astronauts (Sandra Bullock and George Clooney) find themselves floating alone above the earth.<\/p>\n<p>Like his last film, the dystopian drama Children of Men (2006), Cuaron and his crew have come up with a highly inventive approach to story, using a stunning blend of camera work and visual effects to create a chilling plausible dystopian world.<\/p>\n<p>Whilst his latest doesn&#8217;t have the thematic depth of that film, it remains a gripping thrill ride, utilising cutting edge technology to elicit human emotion and create a powerful tale of survival.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YX5EKEF37CU\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>For most of the film we are with a stranded Bullock as she struggles to find a way back home and this is her best role in years. She makes a convincing astronaut but also channels a wide range of emotions from panic to resolve.<\/p>\n<p>As for Clooney, his character is cleverly used and he brings his usual charm and screen presence to his role as a veteran spaceman. An off-screen voice cameo from Ed Harris is a tip of the hat to his famous role in the last major space drama, Apollo 13 (1995).<\/p>\n<p>For Cuaron this is another step in his chameleon-like career, which has included genres such as fantasy, Charles Dickens, the road movie, Harry Potter and sci-fi. Here he takes a bold step into the world of digital cinema and 3D and the result is as impressive as his previous work.<\/p>\n<p>To describe Gravity as science fiction doesn&#8217;t feel right quite right.<\/p>\n<p>For most of its lean 87 minute running time it feels terrifyingly realistic, even if in retrospect some of the narrow escapes feel a little bit too last second.<\/p>\n<p>But make no mistake, this is a truly groundbreaking film with highly innovative camera work from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecredits.org\/2013\/10\/one-of-the-greatest-cinematographers-ever-gravity-cinematographer-emmanuel-lubezki\/\">Cuaron&#8217;s regular cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki<\/a> and stunning visual effects supervised by Tim Webber of Framestore (a previous collaborator).<\/p>\n<p>The extraordinary long take that begins the film sets a marker for what is to come with shots of the various space craft and earth below that are a marvel to behold on a big screen.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nGmijnyKUro\" width=\"560\" height=\"420\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Using a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.icgmagazine.com\/wordpress\/2013\/10\/04\/star-fall\/\">complex mixture of camera rigs, LED lighting panels, groundbreaking CGI<\/a> and even puppeteers from the stage version of War Horse, the zero gravity of outer space is brilliantly realised, with the earth below just as convincing.<\/p>\n<p>Cuaron and his team have wisely opted to use technology in service of the central story, which was perhaps the reason they opted for such a lean premise, and the result is a pure fusion of technology and emotion.<\/p>\n<p>Sound, silence and a dramatic score by Steven Price also play a critical role in creating the extraordinary atmosphere of the film.<\/p>\n<p>Although time will inevitably lead to more advanced visual effects, Gravity will still represent a landmark in modern cinema.<\/p>\n<p>In a time of great uncertainty and opportunity for the medium, it represents how more traditional directors can utilise digital tools to tell a spellbinding story.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Gravity<\/strong> screened at the London Film Festival on Thursday 10th and Friday 11th October<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>(It opens in the UK on Friday 8th November)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&gt; <a href=\"http:\/\/gravitymovie.warnerbros.com\/\">Official site<\/a><br \/>\n&gt; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.metacritic.com\/movie\/gravity\">Reviews of Gravity at Metacritic<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Director Alfonso Cuaron returns after seven year absence from cinema with an exhilarating journey into outer space that sets new standards for visual effects.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,20,38],"tags":[432,1165,2628,1335],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15541"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15541"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15793,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15541\/revisions\/15793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}