Aningaaq is a short companion piece to the award winning Gravity that was written and directed by
Jonás Cuarón, son of Alfonso Cuarón. I should make it clear right away that
this review will feature spoilers so if you haven’t seen Gravity then you may not wish to continue. Have you left? Good. Aningaaq is a seven minute short that
shows a scene in Gravity from the
reverse angle. Having given up aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule, Dr. Ryan Stone
(Sandra Bullock) begins to receive a faint radio transmission. Initially
believing it to originate from a Chinese Space Station, she soon realises it’s
in fact coming from Earth. This film shows us the other side of the
conversation the two people have; Stone, miles above Earth on the verge of
death and Aningaaq, an Inuit
fisherman on a frozen fjord.
Aningaaq begins with a long, slow panning shot which depicts the
inhospitable icy surroundings in which the Inuit fisherman finds himself
living. This connects beautifully with the story of Gravity in that both characters are separated from their species by
many miles and life snatching surroundings. Both films share the same eerie
silence, further promoting the idea of bleakness and exposure. Unlike the
blackness of space though, Aningaaq is shown in a near white out, the exact
opposite of Dr. Stone.
