All Is Lost

A man (Robert Redford) is sailing alone in his yacht but during the night, his vessel collides with a container adrift on the sea while he sleeps. The yacht is flooded and she loses her navigation and communication equipment and heads to a violent storm. When the yacht sinks, the sailor embarks in the liferaft that is carried adrift by the currents to a shipping lane. His fight for survival begins.

"All Is Lost" tells the story of a skilled sailor fighting to survive stranded in the high sea. Robert Redford has stunning performance, the cinematography is impressive but the writer is lazy and should have researched more about navigation and lifesaving procedures. In addition, there is no character development and the viewer never knows what the man is doing in the Indian Ocean.

Vessels have bilge pumps and EPIRB and pleasure yachts usually have also portable bilge pumps. Robert Redford is shaved all the time and never wears lifejacket or immersion suit or even a hat to protect from the sun, maybe because he is the star of the movie and needs to show his face. The inflatable liferaft does not seem to have the usual survival equipment and the sailor does not have a survival kit ready on board for emergency situations. But despite the flaws, "All Is Lost" is not a bad movie. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Até o Fim" ("Till the End")

Redford is great and this film shows how such a simple idea with one actor can work. As a filmmaker, it was interesting to see how a dialogue-free movie can work visually with a story that reminded me of Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea." For me, the story was a metaphor or allegory for life and our struggles. Cinematography was good, shot on the Arri Alexa, one of the hot cameras at the moment. The lack of dialogue and having only one actor made it a meditation for me on the visual elements. I hope Redford gets Oscar nomination. I'm inspired that a veteran like Redford had confidence in Chandor to go on this experimental film journey together.

J.C. Chandor is a lucky man. After scoring an Oscar nomination with his 2011 screenplay and debut Margin Call, he swiftly got the opportunity to work one-on-one with another original script and a silver screen legend, Robert Redford. Unfortunately, Chandor is not a reliable hand behind a pen. After a promising first act and a killer ensemble, Margin Call seems to lose the will to live with no momentum, tension or really, drama, moving it towards the moment where the film sort of has to end. However, despite what its prologue may tell you, All Is Lost has the will to live. In fact, that's all its got as it wrestles through its narrative. The premise is both ambitious and minimal. It's a premise that you hear and wonder how someone could make a compelling film out of something so vague. Well All Is Lost achieves it, but holds onto that vagueness. I can't really recall the details of what happens besides miscellaneous actions, but this is a film about the experience and taking you along for the ride.

From a technical standpoint and for an independent film, it's rather unmatched. It may not be wide in scale, but it's convincing in the details of its design. Whereas sea-bound films such as Life Of Pi have been distracting for the moments where its pool sets are clearly apparent, All Is Lost is thoroughly convincing that we are forever in the middle of the ocean through its cinematography and special effects. I wish the editing didn't jump around as much, it was impossible to truly get immersed in the situations and the weight of the challenges. But most importantly besides the visuals, it's a soundscape. With much of the sources of the sounds coming offscreen, the conviction of the sound editing and mixing are astonishing and often frightening. The one dip out of the fly-on-the-wall approach is the score which appropriately highlights the films best and most poignant moments. But in a one-man band, it all hinges on our lead. Our Man, Robert Redford.

I've only seen him in a collection of 60s and 70s classics and I know at the very least he is a confident and often charming lead. I know him more for his direction work with his Oscar winning Ordinary People and Oscar deserving Quiz Show. All Is Lost was quickly pronounced his opus so I was intrigued given his reputation. With no dialogue to work with, his performance is in his overwhelmed but quiet expressions that try to grasp what little soul he has left. Surprisingly, it's not a showy performance but one that perfectly blends into the texture of the film. However, it doesn't achieve what Gravity achieves when faced with the risk of mortality. We don't know enough about Our Man, his story doesn't mean enough to us. Instead, we're left with a strong melancholy. As like Margin Call, the film simply deflates from its tragedy, and while they may try, characters can't do anything against the obstacles Chandor puts in front of them. At least this was a little more believable.

7/10

It takes a brave director and a brave actor to set forth on a journey where the film they are making is a near silent 100 minute plus feature that has a single actor command the screen from films opening until films close – All is Lost's brave men are second time director JC Chandor (whose first film Margin Call is well worth seeking out) and seasoned Hollywood legend Robert Redford who inhabits his meatiest film role in decades and reminds us why at one stage he was Hollywood's go to leading man.

Despite barely uttering a word Robert Redford is a commanding presence in this tale of survival, saying much with a mere facial expression or with a look of his eyes it's fair to say that only an actor of his experience and expertise could of pulled of such a feat and it's a great moment for him in the twilight of his career to again show us the viewer's just why he is a legend of the industry. Redford's commitment to the nameless role must have been a joy for director Chandor who is quickly establishing himself as a talent to watch. Margin Call was a film made around it's cracking script and banter between actors and All is Lost is just about as far from that as possible. For only his second feature length film it's a mighty feat by Chandor to control the film the way in which he does, whether or not on a calm sea or a raging storm the film never feels like it is slipping from Chandor's grip despite the film having major limitations in it's narrative scope.

For what it is All is Lost is virtually a faultless film but a movie in which we a are asked to sit and partake in 100 minutes of a man on the sea it can only go so far. Moments of great emotion or potential to expand on who we are witnessing surviving are lost like our protagonist and it deters audience investment. Other elements of the film such as Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zero's front man Alex Ebert's Golden Globe winning score and the cinematography by Frank DeMarco and Peter Zuccarini feel as though they could have been expanded upon more also giving the film more scope and emotional feeling.

All is Lost may not be an easy film to enjoy or even sit through thanks to it's subject and plotting but it's a film that cannot be ignored thanks to a Redford showpiece and another fine step by Chandor in what is shaping to be an exciting career behind the camera. For a film about the will to survive and the strength of the human spirit it's one of the better examples of recent years.

3 and a half rouge shipping containers out of 5

Here we follow a solo sailor who experiences an extraordinary run of bad luck. We follow in detail his attempts to extricate himself. Right from the beginning, the life-threatening accidents that befall him seem insurmountable, but he is a tough man who attempts to deal with them one after the other. It becomes a grim battle for survival.

You do not need to be a sailor to enjoy this movie. And indeed if you are a sailor, apparently you won't enjoy it, as shown by the numerous wealthy reviewers lambasting the film because of the technical sailing details. Apparently a lot of rich old guys think they could have done better than the character in this film.

If you're not much of a sailor (like me), you'll spend a good deal of time wondering what he's doing and marveling at his self reliance. I don't know whether the sailing part was realistic. To enjoy the movie, it doesn't matter. It all seemed bone-crunchingly realistic, although at one point I did wonder whether an exhausted 77-year-old has the strength to haul himself up the side of a sailboat like that.

This is an unusual film for several reasons.

First, there is almost no dialogue. You can watch it with the sound off.

Second, it is set completely on two vessels in the Indian Ocean, but the camera almost never scans the horizon. We rarely actually see the sea or the entire boat. Sometimes there are several astonishing shots of the boat from underneath. All this gives the film a strangely claustrophobic feel, despite its maritime setting.

Third, the protagonist is a taciturn, very competent sailor who also happens to be a man in his late 70s. The movie has nothing to say, but yet much to say, about old age.

This movie is like "Gravity" in that it depicts a human being in extremis. The main character is not the sailor, but Fate. The sea represents a brutal and uncaring universe. Like "Gravity", the ultimate message is: when sh*t happens you can lie down and give up, or you can deal with it. The choice is up to you. Most of us have a hard time with that because it's easier to curse Fate and condemn the universe as unfair.