Gravity

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Michael, Tyler, Naomi, Kim, Kate, Chris, Josh, David, aaron, Adam, Antony, Rebecca, Louise, Fabio, Paul, Jaemie, Warren, Claire, Jay, Tim, Natalie, Bel, Ethan, Cicely, Breeahn, Brett, Xoe, Steve, Alex, Clint, Matt, Grady, Tara, Bec

Back in Perth for another IMAX screening, this time with the biggest crowd I've taken to a film so far, 40 people. What an amazing screening. And what a great film!

Where to begin? It's a technical marvel. Alfonso Cuarón's love of long takes is in overdrive here coupled with the 3D, creates a very immersive experience. As does the sound design, really using the whole surround system to great effect whilst closely following the laws of physics in space. Then the music, which sometimes takes the place of sound design, is appropriately sparse, tense, operatic and emotional.

The effects work is subtly mind blowing. I don't think people will realise how much of what they are seeing is actually cg animation. When you couple that with Emmanuel Lubezki's creative cinematography techniques you got 90 minutes of pure eye candy.

And then at the heart of it all is this elegantly simple story, a classic hero's journey structure boiled down to bare essentials and set in a non-stop tension filled environment. It's lean, but has all the thrills you could want and has just enough character work and backstory to make the emotional beats work.

That's in large part to the performances of the two leads, who I can only imagine would have had a hell of a time pulling this off and making it natural in what sounds like the most technically specific of conditions to work under.

I could nit-pick a few things, but I'm not going to. I just want to gush right now. Absolutely love it.