By: debbie lynn elias
I am often asked who are some of my favorite directors. That’s a tough question as the list is constantly changing, covering so many different genres and 100 years of film. But, as in life itself, the cream always rises to the top and without batting an eye, I will always name Danny Boyle. Diverse and eclectic in his choices, Boyle is never one to get “bogged down” in the process and consistently pushes himself into new territory, striving for new knowledge, new technique, thought provoking topics, compelling visuals, intelligent dialogue, evocative and interesting characters, exploring the human condition with its fractured frailties with honest sensitivity. His latest work , SUNSHINE, a work of “science fact”, is just one example of why Danny Boyle is one of the best in the business.
Based on scientific evidence and belief in 2007, the Sun should burn for another 5 billion years. (Whether we will be able to reap that benefit given global warming is another matter.)
Jump ahead 50 years to 2057. The Sun is dying. Why? Who knows. We are not omniscient beings and despite our best efforts, cannot predict the future not control the universe. Already ice covers much of the world; a solar winter. Even Sydney, Australia is now a winter wonderland. There is one hope, however; reignite the Sun. The only way to do it – travel to the Sun and deliver a nuclear device that will detonate and hopefully, create a star within a star. (Yes, go back to your science books people. The Sun is a star. Trivia for you – Did you know that in our universe a star dies every second? ) The problem – although the technology has existed for over 50 years to enable a venture such as this, one has never been attempted until now. The Icarus I, failed. Now desperate, Japan and the United States, with global funding, join together to mount a second attempt – the Icarus II. Oh, and did I mention these are manned missions?
Helmed by Captain Kaneda, the crew is a semblance of the best and the brightest in their fields – physicist Robert Capa, the only crew member who can detonate the bomb; Mace, the ship’s engineer; pilot Cassie; Dr. Searle, ship’s psychiatrist, navigator Troy, communications officer Harvey and botanist Corazon whose passion and responsibility is to cultivate a live garden for purposes of creating and storing oxygen. Contained in cramped living quarters for 7 years, their individual personalities distinctively different, they are finally approaching their target, indicative of the sighting of Mercury orbiting the sun, and not a moment too soon. Tensions have mounted and tempers have flared, putting a strain on each soul and the mission as a whole. And despite the best laid plans of men, women and NASA, you can bet that whatever can go wrong will gowrong – even in space. The only common denominator to everything and everyone – the Sun.
As the crew prepares for separation and detonation, a strange anomaly occurs – a radio signal never before detected that appears to be bouncing off the iron of Mercury. Could it be the Icarus I? An alien life form? A higher being? A satellite? The signal is 10,000 miles off their course. Should they investigate or preserve the mission? Feelings are mixed. Votes are tallied. Punches are thrown. Psyches snap. Mortality is stared in the face. And always looming brighter than anything anyone has ever seen, is the Sun, seductively luring them ever onward like the song of a Greek Siren.
Cillian Murphy leads an exemplary cast as the soft spoken, methodical, conscious-driven Capa. Having worked with Boyle in “28 Days Later” and probably best known for his role in “Batman Begins” or “Red Eye”, Murphy exemplifies the balance between man and machine. Steely yet sensitive, he sets the tone and pacing with a compelling narrative. So devoted to his craft, Murphy even spent some time at CERNA, a Swiss training facility for astronauts and cosmonauts, studying technique and gathering knowledge, all of which he translated into nuanced subtleties of Capa. Chris Evans easily handles the role of Mace, taking his own game to new levels of confidence and maturity far beyond that he demonstrated in “Fantastic Four”. Exuberant when I met him at a private screening, his enthusiasm for the role and the film proved infectious. Stellar is the word for Michelle Yeoh as Corazon, a name that personifies the character. Best known for her performance in “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”, Boyle knew from the start Yeoh was the only choice for Corazon. Conveying a tacit spiritual and psychological balance, she represents hope and is a constant reminder of the humanity in us all – both the good and the bad. Cliff Curtis is having a banner summer. Concurrently seen in “Live Free or Die Hard”, Curtis is intriguing here as Dr. Searle, himself drawn to the role for its philosophical nature, stating, “Searle realizes something went wrong with the previous mission, and potentially could go wrong with their, so he uses himself as a guinea pig. He theorizes on the possibility that, to some, the Sun may be the face of God…he raises a central question: Do we have the right as human beings to change the course of nature?” That philosophy is carried through Curtis’ performance with an intensive obsession that fascinating.
Written by Alex Garland, who has now written 3 works for Boyle’s direction, including “28 Days Later”, it was Garland who contacted Boyle with his initial script of SUNSHINE. From the start Boyle was hooked. “I had this image straight away that you see at the beginning of the film where you see a hot bright spot of light which you assume to be the sun and you appear to be going towards it but it becomes a shield and it turns and the shield disappears into the sun. I couldn’t let it go.” There is some irony along with the mandatory homage to the genre of days gone by with glimpses of “Alien”, “2001″, “Star Trek” and even “Armageddon”, as Boyle and Garland bring a comfortable familiarity to this symbiotic blend of scientific fact with a fantastical philosophical twist. Notable is the fact that the story isn’t flooded with flashbacks or memories, yet there is great depth to the characters with a strong sense of backstory even without it being told per se. He capitalizes on his innate story-telling ability to have the audience in the here and now along with the crew.
Danny Boyle is undoubtedly the most diverse and eclectic director to come around in many a year. From “Trainspotting” to “The Beach” to “28 Days Later” and now SUNSHINE, he is constantly challenging not only his own abilities as a director by exploring every genre, but our senses as movie-goers. Knowing the magnitude of this project, Boyle started with impeccable scientific research resources, thus accounting for 80% of the film to be scientifically accurate with 20% delving into the fantastical with spiritual and philosophical twists and turns.
At the outset, Boyle began by studying the Sun. “Straightaway. Just the idea of going to the sun. To start immediately looking at it. I start with books and photographs. That’s what I tend to gather. And as soon as you start to delve into it, you feel yourself you get lost in it and that’s one of the things that the thing’s about. Your mind. As you try to take on board this, the enormity, the power, the extraordinary thing it is. And then comes the science advisors.”
According to Boyle, “The truth is that its absolute agony making [“science fact” films] and you have no idea how difficult they are. And the standards that you expect. I have never done a genre where that critical line is so acute. You have to be above that line for people to go okay. Then they judge the story. That technical level, to get to that level, to get there is absolutely terrifying difficulty. Desiccates in front of you if you get it wrong even slightly wrong. Here, the spotlight is really intense.” It is this level of meticulous perfection that had Boyle hand picking the best in the business for his crew. Knowing that SUNSHINE is distinctly separated into light and dark, Boyle called on cinematographer Alwin Kuchler, as him being the “best in light and darkness. Absolutely meticulous.”
According to visual supervisor Tom Wood, the ultimate challenge was creating the sun itself, “ how incredibly massive and incomprehensibly large the Sun actually is.” For this reason, and a $40 million budget, it was decided to create all exteriors, including the Sun, with CGI. The opening sequence alone turned out to be the longest CGI sequencing ever done by the London production house. With all exteriors created through CGI, the interior of the ship was built in its entirety on London sound stages. Long time Boyle collaborator production designer Mark Tildesley gave a distinctive voice to the ship, creating a close quartered interior with exposed wiring much like man’s exposed nerves. A bigger challenge was lighting and according to Boyle, most of the lighting was built into the set. “It was part of the real lighting in the set. It’s quite a cramped space so there isn’t that much flexibility so we tried to make it organically light from within the ship itself.”
Perhaps one of the most impressive creations of the film is the space suit. Done in gold Mylar, the suit is exquisite, glistening amid the darkness of the ship and synergistically blending with the sun itself. With working cameras built into the helmets, we are privy to the crew members and given the weight and heat of the suit, can feel their discomfort and tension as the sweat drips form their brow.
My favorite bit of trivia comes in the form sound. Actual sounds from space captured by a Midwestern university are incorporated as the signals and static heard on the ship’s communications system.
Without a doubt one of the most magnificent examples of beauteous mesmerization to come along in a long while, from a purposeful captivating opening sequence displaying the Sun in all its fiery glory to glistening gold space suits to the explosive magic of detonation that mimics twinkling stars, one knows they are in for an eye-popping treat. Danny Boyle grabs you from the get go with incredible imagery, rapid precise pacing, a fascinating subject not often addressed in film, and never lets go of his hold until he’s completely turned your psyche upside down with man’s obsession and fascination with the Sun. SUNSHINE simply sizzles.
Capa – Cillian Murphy Corazon – Michelle Yeoh Mace – Chris Evans Searle – Cliff Curtis Harvey – Troy Garrity Cassie – Rose Byrne
Directed by Danny Boyle. Written by Alex Garland. Rated R. (107 min)
