Director: J.C. Chandor.
Starring: Robert Redford.
Running Time: 101 minutes.
Rating: 12A.
Extras: None.
ALL IS LOST is the latest in a long line of motion pictures that features a very minimal cast. Take the likes of BURIED, which featured Ryan Reynolds holed up in a coffin a couple of years ago, and even last year’s GRAVITY, which, save a couple of voice overs, featured just two central performances, and you’ll gain an understanding of what we’re dealing with here. You could also add to that list this month’s Tom Hardy starrer LOCKE, a film which also featured its leading man in a solo performance in a simple, though harrowing car journey along one of Britain’s motorways.
Here, Robert Redford’s character, known only as ‘Our Man,’ is in similar territory, only with Hardy’s roads swapped for some very stormy high seas. The legendary actor is the solitary presence in this 101-minute opus as a sailor who awakes one morning to find that his 36-foot yacht has somehow managed to slide into a floating shipping container somewhere in the Indian Ocean. Using his very impressive set of skills, with no communication and a massive, gaping hole in the side of his boat, the unnamed man has to navigate, using just the ocean current, towards a shipping lane, and hopefully across the line of a passing, hopefully manned vessel to safety.
If it were only that simple.
J.C. Chandor’s second feature film as director, after the impressive Wall Street drama MARGIN CALL, is as ambitious a project for him as it is for his 77-year-old leading man. Chandor’s directing and pacing of this simple story engages you from the opening frame until the very last. You also can’t help but think that if this was any other actor leading the solo charge in this film, we’d end up reaching for the remote and fast forwarding to the good parts, but Redford’s prescence is so captivating that you’re with his character every step of the way, rooting for him at every turn. His age merely aids to this feeling, and makes you believe in his battle more, as if it were your own family member stuck out there alone. You’re literally sat there on the edge of your seat hoping that he does make it out of there in one piece, as well as thinking that you’re never leave dry land again.
Save a few very obvious CGI-heavy scenes, everything is nigh on perfect, and is one of those films you can’t quite believe didn’t do better on its theatrical run. Redford has never been better, Chandor’s script is water tight, and he gets to show off his magnificent range as a director too, as this could not be further away from anything he’s tackled before.
This really is a must watch, and comes highly recommended.
[usr=4] ALL IS LOST is released by Universal Pictures UK on April 28 on DVD and Blu-ray.
