All still images via film-grab.com
This is the second installment of our series where our participating contributors pick one scene from any particular film that made them tense and nervous.
It was very challenging to pick one movie out of too many that have heart-pounding scenes. After much deliberation, I think I chose one of my favorite movies, and this one hits close; Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity. This one was one of the most jaw-dropping experiences as a movie fan I've ever had. There are plenty of breathtaking moments in Gravity and the visual spectacle displayed has possibly been my best experience watching in 3D. But enough of those accolades, the focus of this series is to talk about the heart-pounding scenes, and within the first 30 minutes, Gravity almost sent me to the hospital with its heart-racing, anxiety-inducing opening sequence. I know, I exaggerated a little bit, but I think I made a point.
Gravity tells the story of Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) who is on her first mission in space with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky (George Clooney), who is on the verge of retirement. After an astonishing long single shot (thanks to Academy Award winner Emmanuel Lubeski) introduction to characters and space, disaster strikes as their space shuttle is destroyed, leaving both main characters stranded in the dark abysmal space. Both astronauts are connected to each other while consuming the last amount of oxygen in their spacesuits, trying to get close to the next space station on the horizon. The only thing between them is the daunting and frightening space. Director Alfonso Cuarón has always utilized everything that the medium has to insert us in the middle of its story. One of the best ways to describe how visceral his work is: in the first few minutes, you could barely hear a breath in a sold-out crowd at the theatre. It was as if they were the ones inside the astronauts' suits missing oxygen. Debris, a dead body flying over space, lack of oxygen, no response from anyone, and the black infinite space, is what is surrounding our main character.
I remembered vividly how some of the audience gasped while Ryan (Bullock) is drifting in space and literally disappearing in the vast of the space while the score was fading as if it was the last time we would see her until miraculously we hear the voice of Matt (Clooney) trying to get closer to her. It's “the little things” (no pun intended) that Cuarón does here that puts us in our main characters' shoes. Even in the most fantastical and unrealistic of situations, he makes us feel part of our protagonist’s journey. Maybe the most logical reason for me to experience this amount of tension while watching this scene is that I've always had incredible respect and fear of space, the unknown, the cosmic, and the gigantic never-ending part of the universe that we only see in documentary films or in masterpieces like this. This film looks so carefully shot that for one second I wonder if some of this footage was real or not; the background, space, maybe the earth shots. However, it was all the incredible visual effects on display that created a terrifying atmosphere of fear and desperation.
After those first 30 minutes, the film becomes a one-woman show in what is arguably Bullock’s best performance yet. This is the moment in which Cuarón reminded us “Hey, this is just the beginning, so buckle up”. Yes, a beginning to a 90-minute, never-disappointing sci-fi thriller ride, featured by the anxiety-inducing edge of your seat scenes that provoked in me a sense of nervousness that I have rarely experienced in a film. It's a sense of tension that could only be surpassed by the beautiful love letter that Cuarón and his son Jonás penned in this script about grief and loss.
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