All Is Lost

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

I immediately hated the idea and movie when I first heard about it. After leaving the cinema in the half 10 years ago in Cast Away disaster and hating all Tom Hanks movies after wards, I thought "no, not again!". Then I forgot about it.

Then fate comes in. Here I sit with my girlfriend in a lazy Sunday afternoon and we're preparing to watch Grand Budapest Hotel on DVD. But wait, All Is Lost begins in a movie channel before I switch to DVD. While I was busy with preparing wine & cheese my girlfriend says "wait, this movie got my attention, let's see where it goes".

After 2 hours we sit with admiration on the simplicity & minimalist style vs. the strong portrayal of human will and survival instinct against nature elementals. Yes, we definitely liked this movie.

And of course we're not sailors. We do not know the technical details of what to do or what not to do in sailing. Of course there were some logical problems when we asked "wait, why did he do that?" in some scenes - but this didn't bother us enormously.

But when I entered and read the reviews here, I confront with human ego, I-know-everything attitude of "sailors" here. Ego is interesting, don't get me wrong I do not criticize this. If this movie was about health & illness and the main character was ill in a remote island and tries to heal himself, you should see my technical rant here as a health professional. Yes this is E.G.O., Everyone Got One.

But if you can pass ego, this is real nice movie showing the strong will and instinct of human being vs nature. Definitely not a waste of time as I prejudicially thought before..

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.

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.

This is one to watch, especially if you have watched and enjoyed Cast Away. To be honest I did not expect to like it so much, knowing the type of movie this is. It is really fascinating though to realise how well this movie goes on based purely on one man's resourcefulness. The pace of the film is great with the action scenes keeping me on the edge of my seat. Redford in his late 70s gives a truly solid performance confronting his misadventures with extreme calmness and pure dignity. The character gives real time lessons on how to survive under such dire circumstances. A film dedicated to mortality. Quite different from what you may have seen in related films. I definitely recommend it!