All Is Lost is a drama about a yacht floating aimlessly in the Indian Ocean. We do not know the name of the sailor. Suddenly his ship has been punctured by an enormous metal shipping container adrift loose in the sea. The resulting hole is the start of where this man’s problems begin.
All Is Lost is a most peculiar little picture. Other than some narration in the beginning, this is a nearly wordless production. Our man, as he’s listed in the credits, recounts his dire written message directed at some unnamed people. He has given up. Then we flashback 8 days. We observe how our hero’s situation has deteriorated up to that point. Without conversation, we must rely on the character’s actions to communicate his predicament. Robert Redford offers a fascinating portrayal, one that will undoubtedly earn an Academy Award nomination. It’s the kind of understated achievement that usually goes unnoticed. However I predict this will win him tons of awards. Surprisingly Redford has been nominated just once for an acting Oscar in his entire career (The Sting). Admittedly that makes him a sentimental choice, but this performance also happens to be among his very best. He does great work here.
Yet despite his incredible accomplishment, I did not enjoy this movie much. For the full 106 minute runtime, we simply watch a character’s fate grow from bad to worse. We see our man repair damages, pump water out of the main cabin, distill drinking water and shoot a flare gun – all in wordless silence. It’s all quite methodical and emotionally cold. There are only the sound of the waves and the musical score to direct our feelings. There is no history, no reasons for his trip, nor family we can connect to this man. We know only random bits than we can glean from tiny clues of the narrative. Part of the “fun” is putting the evidence together to assemble the background of this man’s life. He’s rich obviously. He owns a yacht. Or does he own it? That’s not clear. We are able to tell he has loved one(s) given the opening voice-over. Or is that directed to friends? Ok, we can see he is an old man, possibly in his late 70s. That’s really all we can deduce.
I admire what director J.C. Chandor is trying to do with All Is Lost. He also directed the studious financial study Margin Call, which was nothing but talking. In All Is Lost, Chandor admirably tries to convey helplessness in the most subtle manner possible, sans dialogue. So insubstantial, it barely registers as a film. Its adherence to minimalism is remarkable. It’s a noble exercise, but it doesn’t resonate as entertainment. It feels like an experiment. You can argue, we don’t need a backstory to be invested. We should care because he is human. His will to survive is the plot. But without the context of a face of someone he misses or even a personality for the man himself, our sentiments are not fully engaged. He is a completely inscrutable protagonist. He rarely shows emotion except in one exasperated release where he utters one loud obscene word. Additionally for the majority of the movie, our man is presumably such an expert seafarer, he appears cool and collected. He’s calm so we’re calm. The stakes don’t seem that high. That changes but by then it’s too little, too late.
Fast Film Reviews 
Leave a comment