Gravity

It took Alfonso Cuaron, the director of Y Tu Mama Tambien and Children of Men, seven years to bring Gravity, his latest and extraordinary film to the big screen. To say the wait was worth it is an understatement. The story revolves around Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) a withdrawn and haunted medical engineer on her first expedition to space under the mentorship of veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski (George Clooney). 

The breath-taking opening sequence establishes the two main characters as they attempt to fix the Hubble telescope gently floating above the Earth. Things suddenly go very wrong when a meteor causes a tidal wave of debris that irretrievably damages both the telescope and their space shuttle. What follows next is the most nail-biting and visceral survival story committed to screen for a long time as Stone and Kowalski scramble to make it back to Earth with no available help from Mission Control and oxygen rapidly running out.

The film benefits from Sandra Bullock’s athletic and committed performance, without doubt the most accomplished in her 25 year long career, and another departure from the comedic and romantic roles she has become famous for. But it is visually that the film impresses the most. Alfonso Cuaron has spent years developing new technology to achieve his unique and groundbreaking vision of the cosmos and the results are spellbinding. Aided by impeccable 3D, stunning visual effects and pitch perfect sound design, the film comes as close as most of us are ever likely to get to actually being in space, and this is no small praise.

In cinemas across London from 8 Nov 2013