'Gravity'

As shown in the October 23, 2013 edition of the 'Monroe County Reporter':

Alfonso Cuarón's science-fiction thriller "Gravity", which debuted October 4, invites its audience to experience the visual and emotional effects of zero-gravity suspended above Earth.  Mission Specialist Dr. Ryan Stone, portrayed by actress Saundra Bullock ("Speed", "The Blind Side"), is on her first space shuttle mission where she is to service the Hubble Space Telescope.  Stone is accompanied on the crew by veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski, played by George Clooney ("Solaris", "The Descendants"), who is commanding his final expedition.

The suspense is triggered when a Russian missile strike on a defunct satellite causes a chain reaction of destruction with its path heading towards the shuttle crew at bullet speed.  Both Stone and Kowalski are outside the shuttle upgrading the Hubble when they receive this news and do not have enough time to respond.  Communication with Mission Control is lost and the large debris field collides with the shuttle. Both Stone and Kowalski are left floating in space as the sole survivors. 

Writer-director Cuarón ("A Little Princess", "Children of Men") seems to have made this film to not simply be a story of survival in space but also about detachment.  As the story progresses Dr. Ryan Stone reveals a dissociation to her own suffering due to the tragic loss of her daughter.  She would rather be adrift in denial than feel the gravity of her pain.  This choosing becomes an apparent impasse to her survival.

The cinematography is reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968), with one scene brilliantly portraying Dr. Stone hovering in the fetal position together with floating hoses and wires as if she were in the mother's womb.  This image, among others, invites us to transcendently watch this film.  The realms of space and the planet it overlooks are merely canvas.

Sound also plays a transcendent role in "Gravity".  As the film's opening text recognizes, there are very few molecules in empty space to mobilize sound.  By honoring the laws of gravity, this film acknowledges the dynamics of both sound and silence through its suspenseful sequence of events.  Dr. Stone confesses silence is what she loves most about space, and later in the film she indicates how silence is an escape for her.

To bring this down to earth, "Gravity" is fun to watch because of the breath-taking cinematography and screenplay.  It errs on the side of melodrama yet maybe this is the movie's strength.  Both Bullock and Clooney play convincing roles even though the cinematic effects detach you from their acting.  It was inspiring to witness the attachment between Dr. Stone and Kowalski because of the hope we have in the face of each other.  Whose face, touch, or words can be a life-line when we encounter the emptiness and void of our own heart?  How can we be a life-line?