Solo

A movie not just about survival but also about love and relationships. Beautifully shot water and sand scenes. Slow? Well, definitely not for the superhero generation.

The camerawork is absolutely stunning and vivid, creating a genuinely chaotic and natural experience. I also appreciated the fact that this film used many real locations instead of heavy CGI and studio sets.

But then the awful structuring of the narrative ruins all sense of tension and unease. The film begins in medias res for absolutely no reason and while it might seem cool at first, it feels laughably dumb afterward. The contrived romance was not only disruptive but also painfully pretentious. It strives for greater importance in the story and characters when there really isn't anything there to begin with.

The survival story isn't even that exciting or unique. It's been done before and certainly far better. 127 Hours immediately comes to mind, but even The Revenant has a few individual scenes that surpass everything this film tries to accomplish with masterful technique and stunning beauty. It's commendable for being a true story and for having stunning cinematography, but what's the point of adapting this man's story into a film when it doesn't bring anything necessary or unique to cinema?

When surfing in Encinitas, CA in 1990, I experienced being swept against the rocks, unable to resist the surges, but luckily found a purchase and crawled up on dry land. These scenes are horrendously reminiscent of that terrifying event in my life.

This sounds like a tense survival movie but turns out to be a slow movie with retropectives & dreams filling the gaps in the first half of the film. Gets a bit better in the second half.

Photography is great, though. But nothing happens...