All Is Lost

Starring: Robert Redford
Directed by: J.C. Chandor
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama
2013

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A sailor (Robert Redford) sailing alone faces mounting challenges after his ship is damaged.

Review:

Tim: Robert Redford is pretty amazing. I think most people have known that for quite some time, but he further proves the point with All Is Lost- a film featuring only one performance, and a mostly mute performance at that. Redford has to hold our attention for 106 minutes with only a few lines of dialogue. That is a monumental task, but he pulls it off.

I am pretty amazed at Redford's performance, especially considering he is 77 years old. That's remarkable and it was fun watching him work here. He gives a very strong performance, holding our attention even without any dialogue. The facial expressions he uses, the body language- it's all on display here to make up for the lack of dialogue. This is a movie that Redford needed to completely own, as he had no one else to rely on. It's a big challenge for any actor, but for one so late in his career, it's pretty amazing how well he pulled it off. That is the number one reason to see this movie- Redford's performance.

The movie is quite good as well. The story is a pretty simple one- a solitary sailor sees his ship damaged and fights against mounting odds to survive. This is a simple survival tale, but it holds our attention throughout. This is a quiet movie, a slow movie, but it's always building. I might have expected to get bored at different points, but it never happened. I was so intrigued to see what would happen next, how Redford's character would overcome the next obstacle, and whether or not he could survive. The movie was very engaging.

The cinematography was quite good. There's not a lot to show on screen- a ship, Redford, and water. And yet, the way the film is shot, it always feels like something is going on. The movie is quite beautiful to look at. The difference scenes worked quite well and I liked how the movie handled some of the storm scenes.

I love that this movie was even made. It's certainly very unlike the average movie. It's great to see filmmakers continuing to push boundaries. The idea of watching one actor all by himself for an entire film, with almost no dialogue seems like a pretty big risk. However, it pays off in spades here. Movie makers need to take more chances.

I do wish the film developed Redford's character a bit more. I know we get hints here and there that fill in some of the pieces, but I never felt a very strong emotional attachment to the character. I certainly wanted him to survive, but it was slightly detached. The character didn't mean much to me, which mutes the impact of the film just a bit. This is a minor concern, but it's a big reason why I would not quite consider this a great film.

Despite that, All Is Lost is an achievement and yet another remarkable performance by Robert Redford. This is an exciting, thrilling adventure story of survival and determination. It's a very, very solid movie and one that I thoroughly enjoyed watching.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 7.5



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