Alfonso Cuaron's latest proves storytelling, technical wizardry and entertainment can indeed coexist. Elizabeth Kerr reports.

First things first: Put the belief that Gravity is a science fiction film out of your head. There is nothing fictional about physics and the world's various space programs. There is nothing speculative or fantastical about the American shuttle program. Gravity is a standard drama whose setting happens to be the thermosphere.

Standard in this case would also be an ironic badge of honor. Director Alfonso Cuaron (Y Tu Mam Tambin, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) has almost singlehandedly made the case for (carefully selected) 3D filmmaking and proved that awe-inspiring spectacle and strong, affecting storytelling need not be mutually exclusive. Cuaron - one in Mexico's filmmaking power trio, along with Guillermo del Toro and Alejandro Gonzlez Irritu - and son Jons' script is a lean, efficient piece of old fashioned writing that focuses the attention on the recognizable humanity in the main character. It's what makes Gravity a great movie as well as a great space movie.

Drifting in space with nothing to do but think, Ryan Stone is sure she's never going to see home again. Sandra Bullock in Alfonso Cuaron's Gravity.

Dr Ryan Stone and mission commander Matt Kowalski (Sandra Bullock and George Clooney) pick up the pace in installing communications software.

Our gorgeous big blue marble as rendered by CGI, animation and some movie magic. Alfonso Cuarn's stellar Gravity.

Safe inside the International Space Station, Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) prepares for a rescue mission of her own.

The film begins with medical doctor and mission specialist Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) on a space walk attempting to harness to the Hubble Telescope a piece of technology she developed. While she works on the array, her veteran commander, Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) goofs around in his jetpack, cracking jokes with mission control in Houston and another crewmember working elsewhere on the shuttle. The job is halted when Houston informs them an old Russian satellite has broken apart - on the other side of the planet. Not only does the dead satellite create space debris, it is collecting space debris as it orbits. It's also on a collision course with the shuttle. A catastrophic accident destroys the Explorer and sends Stone hurtling out into deep space.

In the opening minutes of Gravity, Cuaron establishes both the magnificence of space travel (this world and the NASA-derived footage of it is truly spectacular) and the danger. With his mind in thriller mode the white-knuckle tension becomes ceaseless. He and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki (Tree of Life, Cuarn's Children of Men) never waste a frame, and every little detail sets the tone for the rest of the film; Stone's initial drift is among the most harrowing and suspenseful sequences of the year. Deep down you know Kowalski is going to find her, but it doesn't ease the fear she'll be out there forever.

Then, something odd happens. The film shifts its gaze as Stone and Kowalski make their way to the derelict International Space Station. The underlying themes start to emerge more clearly. It's here that the parts come together in a cohesive and compelling whole. As one disaster compounds another (that debris is orbiting after all) and increasingly difficult decisions need to be made, Stone's struggle to survive becomes a way for her to gain emotional closure and focus on a personal tragedy as well as a mirror on her current circumstances. She cycles through fear, panic, frustration, numbness and finally a renewed desire truly to live. This is complemented by rebirth imagery at crucial moments in the void. The connection between the inner and outer stories is what makes Gravity both intensely entertaining and moving.

Perhaps more than anything else, Gravity achieves that level of visual wonder the movies have often inspired in budding filmmakers and that long lost person in all of us that wants to be amazed. Contrary to the case in too many tentpole films these days, the technology is not the story. In Gravity, the technology serves the story as it should and Cuaron never lets his effects get away from him. An opening shot of almost 15-minutes (not flashy enough to notice immediately, but astonishing nonetheless) is just the tip of the effects iceberg that slots seamlessly into the narrative. Most of the action takes place in zero gravity, making the entire film a complicated construction, but Cuaron is so meticulous you'd swear he shot on location in space. The combination of CGI, animation, live action, impeccable wirework, rigging, assembly line robotics, a Light Box created by Lubezki and effects supervisor Tim Webber and Steven Price's pitch perfect score - which is offset by stunning silences at times - makes for a technically robust, immersive experience that hides all signs of its technical prowess.

None of this would work as well as it does without Bullock's revelatory performance. We know exactly where Stone's headspace is at every moment, through clipped requests to turn off some country music to subtle gestures like the flex of fingers in a freezing re-entry capsule. Bullock may have won an Oscar for The Blind Side, but that was as much for her $600 million grossing 2009 as it was for a "correct" performance as a nice white lady who helps a poor black boy through school. In Gravity she demonstrates a depth she has not been able to achieve in the past - though more likely she wasn't allowed to. Word on the street is that Blake Lively (bland), Scarlett Johansson (too bombshell-y), Natalie Portman (too weepy), Marion Cotillard (too dewy) and Angelina Jolie (too righteous) were all considered for the role of Stone. After seeing Bullock, with her relative everywoman relatability, it's hard to imagine anyone else doing it. Clooney is ideally cast in a supporting role as the irreverent space jock who conceals razor sharp professionalism and a deep understanding of risk beneath his goofy anecdotes.

When Cuaron ratchets up the tension for the inevitable desperate stab at salvation we've become so invested in Stone's ordeal that we're right there with her. We want her to overcome these (admittedly considerable) obstacles and get back out in space. We want her to hear someone finally respond to her repeated, "Houston in the blind," update transmissions. There may be arguments down the road as to whether the ultimate message is that we, as a species, have no business in space, but that's a vaguely anti-science idea that directly contradicts Gravity's stunning, evolutionary final shot. See it in 3D. See it in IMAX. Because Gravity is one of the best films of the year so far.

Gravity opened in Hong Kong on Thursday.

(HK Edition 10/04/2013 page7)