Starring
Robert Redford. Directed by J.C. Chandor. (2013, 106 min).
Being
a boat owner sucks.
I
already knew this because I bought a Wave Runner several years ago.
Sure, the things are fun when they're running, but even the smallest
problem with my precious toy renders it inoperable until it gets
fixed. All it took were a few rocks sucked into the impeller and my
boat became a $10,000 lawn ornament for the remainder of the summer.
If you think getting your car repaired is expensive, try making your
watercraft drivable again. Hell, even little problems will suck your
wallet dry.
Watching
Robert Redford trying in vain to save his sailboat in All is Lost
simply hammered that fact home. In the opening scene, when a stray
cargo container tears a hole in his hull, the first thing I thought
was, Man, that's
gonna cost a pretty penny. As a fellow boat-owner whose own
personal watercraft spends far more time on the driveway than the
water, I could empathize.
But
at least I had buddies to tow me and my busted boat back to shore.
Redford is all by himself out in the middle of the Indian Ocean. The
only thing worse than wrecking your boat is doing it all alone in the
middle of nowhere, something All is Lost conveys extremely
well from the very first scene. We immediately feel the enormity of
his situation, and events only become increasingly perilous from
there. The remainder of the film focuses exclusively on Redford's
character's attempts to survive.
 |
| "Damn...I am sooooo lost." |
I
say 'Redford's character' because he is never named. In fact, we
learn nothing about him. For all we know, he's a cheating
douchebag going through a mid-life crisis by boating to a tropical
paradise teaming with naked female natives, but all we're given to
work with is an old man trying desperately to stay alive while nature
does its damndest to kill him.
A
movie like this shouldn't work as well as it does. Every word of
dialogue could fit on a 3 x 5 notecard. While dialogue isn't always
necessary for character development, there's no metaphoric symbolism
either, nor visual images of what he stands to lose. Yet All is
Lost makes us care about this guy anyway; we experience his
obstacles, tiny victories and hope-crushing failures right along with
him.
Much
of the credit for that has to go to Redford because his performance
is nothing short of revelatory. Sure, we respect him as a
director, but as an actor, he was always best at being Robert
Redford. This is the first film
I've seen him in where he truly diappeared into the character.
Despite no dialogue or characterization, what I saw (and felt) was an
old man thrown into a situation in which he'd likely die, and even
though I knew nothing about the the guy, I was truly rooting for him
to live.
Kudos
have to go to J.C. Chandor for his script (32 pages long) and
vastly-underappreciated direction. This could have been either a
pretentious art film or an overbearing “actor's showcase”, yet he
draws a fine line between both. Yeah, it's artistic, but also
audience-rousing without dumbing anything down. In addition, this is
a great-looking movie, with outstanding cinematography and visual
effects, neither of which call attention to themselves other than to
serve the story.
All
is Lost is one of those movies
which defies genre conventions, yet manages to be a thrilling and
emotional ride anyway. It also features Redford's best performance of
his entire career, making it a shame he didn't even get an Oscar
nomination. And despite the story's simplicity, this character's
plight is well-worth revisiting. I've since watched it again and
caught subtle things I didn't notice the first time.
But it also makes me want to sell my boat.
Extras:
Audio
commentary by Writer/Director, J.C. Chandor, Producers Neal Dodson &
Anna Gerb
Featurettes:
“Big Film, Small Film” and “Preparing the Storm”
Vignettes:
The Story; The Filmmaker - J.C. Chandor; The Actor – Robert
Redford; The Sound of All is Lost
FKMG
RATING:
1/2
(Out of 5)
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