All Is Lost: Man Vs Nature

My blogging can now resume (I was studying this past month for Jeopardy: you can see me on the show on July 1st!) and to kick things off, I must bring your attention to All Is Lost. I watched this movie on the plane back from Los Angeles, but I imagine it was a rather awe-inspiring spectacle in the theater. Containing barely any dialogue, this is a gripping movie about a man who is lost at sea and his extraordinary battle to stay alive.

The man (who has no name) is played by Robert Redford, who has clearly lost none of his star power. Here's an actor you could watch for days on end and he turns in a riveting performance. The story is simple: a series of calamities befall a man who is sailing a boat somewhere in the Indian Ocean. In the beginning, his boat is rammed by a drifting shipping container, creating a gaping hole that starts to flood the boat and ruins most of his electrical equipment. However, our hero is a resourceful man and he is able to repair the damage and ensure the boat doesn't capsize. Unfortunately, Mother Nature can't leave him alone and a series of storms arrive to undo his hard work and wreak further havoc. 

Throughout the film, we watch this man battle with the elements, seemingly unperturbed, always approaching each calamity logically and methodically. He does finally crack (long after any one else would have reached their breaking point) but even after voicing his frustrations in one rare moment, he calmly resumes the desperate business of surviving at sea. Redford barely speaks in this movie, but his body conveys all the urgency, hope, desperation, and anger that mere words would fail to convey. He received a Golden Globe nomination but was shut out at the Oscars - this was an insanely competitive year for the Best Actor Oscar, but in most other years, Redford would have walked away with a dozen trophies.

All Is Lost was written and directed by J. C. Chandor, who is clearly a filmmaker to be reckoned with. This is a compelling movie, shot beautifully, edited to convey just the right amount of urgency and hopelessness, and keeps you guessing until the very end. If this film slipped under your radar, now is your chance to grab the DVD and treat yourself to a truly magnificent film from 2013.