G R A V I T Y

Directed by Alfonso Cuarón.
Cast: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney
Running time: 91 mins

Gravity is intense, bittersweet, uplifting, extraordinarily beautiful – and at times quite magical. It is now the benchmark for film technology and should both terrify as much as it inspires filmmakers. Director Alfonso Cuarón, whose career to date has included stints at the helm of Great Expectations, Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban, and the underrated Children of Men, here shows Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) at work on her debut space mission, with colleague Matt Kowalsky (George Clooney) working on his finale. Both characters are hanging around and spinning about in space – Stone attempting to repair some equipment, the design of which she worked on, while Kowalsky whirls around freely as he attempts to break the record for the longest-ever space walk.

All seems well, as they chit-chat through a small-talk exchange, when suddenly Mission Control announces in urgently serious terms that some highly volatile debris from a damaged satellite is rapidly approaching and orders both to immediately end their respective endeavours and return to the ship. Unfortunately the debris does indeed smash into their ship - causing irreparable damage – leaving Ryan and Matt as sole survivors, left adrift in space. Their oxygen supplies are dangerously low and as such offers both limited time to reach a nearby, functional spacecraft before further carnage arrives from the debris.

This is a story of survival – with an essentially slim narrative. The astonishment will emerge from your unequivocal belief that this incredible film was actually shot in space. The entire experience (and I implore you if possible to view it in IMAX 3-D) is shockingly, bewilderingly real – and wonderfully captures the claustrophobia of life in space, the peripheral vision limitations that come with wearing a space suit – and above all - the entire 91 minutes will numb you, as it utilises a staggering amount of zero gravity shots with just about the most spectacular images ever put on film.

Cuarón as director doesn’t over-emphasise these enthralling images however, despite assembling one jaw-dropping image after another - one tracking shot in particular, and a wondrous 'tear' sequence – see these for yourself and you’ll know what I’m referring to.
Sandra Bullock is exceptional in the role of Ryan. There is a deep sadness to her character, and Bullock manages to keep a lid on her emotional range whilst remaining completely authentic. Clooney (as always) makes his performance look so easy, but his work here is invaluable.

Gravity is a complete, unblemished vehicle for the kind of thrills and sense of wonder seldom attained in film, but it is so much more than even that. A study in coming to grips with the eventuality of death and one's fight for survival in a world as mysterious as it is transcendentally beautiful, the film boldly takes the science fiction genre into a realm where it almost ceases to be fiction at all.

Adhering consistently to scientific accuracy, Cuarón has made a contemporary work for the ages, a dazzling film that will be looked at and revered for decades to come as a turning point in the ongoing development of the art form. The music score, too, hits all the right notes. Absorbing the viewer in a 91-minute experience which is almost impossible to forget, Gravity puts an exclamation point on what a marvel the universe truly is. Infinitely larger and greater than ourselves, we are a part of it—a blink of an eye within the cosmos. It is an existential concept that is oddly soothing, one that Gravity gloriously realises in a way that precious few films have managed before.


THE SELFISH GIANT

Directed by Clio Barnard

Cast: Conner Chapman, Shaun Thomas, Sean Gilder, Steve Evets

Running time: 90 mins

Clio Barnard elicits some raw, credible and highly creditable material in this, her debut fiction feature, as two young actors – both without any prior experience - Conner Chapman and Shaun Thomas, take on the roles of Arbor and Swifty. Both live with their respective seriously poverty-stricken families, and try to cope as best they can on a meagre existence amongst the austere landscapes of life in 2013 Bradford. 

As a pair they differ, one is prone to extreme anger whilst the other is more thoughtful and with an ability to deal well with horses – and together they have an at-times unspoken bond of harmony, as they tease and mock one another. Arbor – the kid with the ideas – convinces his pal Swifty to give him a hand in picking up scraps of this and that which they then plan to sell on to Kitten, played by Sean Gilder, an unscrupulous dealer who has no qualms in using youngsters whose age slips them and their illegal activities beneath prosecution.

At times the action is so vividly realistic that many scenes are uncomfortable to view. The ongoing sense of desperation, such as when Mr Swift (Steve Evets) has to sell his family’s couch which still hasn’t been paid for - and scavenger-junkie Mick (Ian Burfield) resorting to theft from a young child are harrowing whilst being extremely moving.

The images are bleak and raw, distressingly comparable to those of Dickensian urchins, ducking and diving despite the ominous potential for severe consequences. 

Despite this, at its heart “The Selfish Giant” is a morality tale - the title taken from Oscar Wilde’s beautiful short story bearing its name – although unlike Wilde’s, Barnard’s offers no happy ending, but nevertheless shows that emotion, friendship and solidarity can carry, if not fully sustain, people through the most devastating of situations. 

As a mirror on life and a searing indictment of austerity Britain in the second decade of the 21st Century, this is a film with content whilst difficult to reconcile, is nevertheless immensely touching, profoundly rewarding and memorable.