Alfonso Cuaron is one of those directors who, I feel, hasn’t really received the proper dues he should from audiences. Sure, Y Tu Mama Tambien won a handful of awards and nominated for an Oscar, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban pushed the Harry Potter film franchise towards a more mature vision (let alone a decidedly creative turn that sometimes clashed with the previous two films in the series), and Children of Men is arguably one of the most underrated sci-fi films to come out of the past decade. Still, Cuaron isn’t as well-known as some of his contemporaries for reasons unexplained.
Hopefully, that will change this October when his next film, Gravity, hits theaters. In the first trailer, which you can watch below, two astronauts played by film favorites George Clooney and Sandra Bullock embark on a mission to space. Ironically, what is Dr. Ryan Stone’s (Sandra Bullock) first shuttle mission is intended to be Matt Kowalsky’s (George Clooney) last. During a routine spacewalk, their shuttle inexplicably explodes, stranding the two out in space with no means of communication.
Frankly, I’m extremely excited for Gravity. It’s shaping out to be a cerebral thriller that is more focused on human survival instincts rather than some supernatural entity, let alone a distinct antagonist/enemy. It’ll be interesting to see how general audiences react to the film, especially considering the combination of two Hollywood-friendly faces with Clooney and Bullock with Cuaron’s vision. Let the speculation begin!
