All Is Lost (2013)
Margarita Lovvorn
Our Man: 13th of July, 4:50 pm. I'm sorry. I know that means little at this point, but I am. I tried, I think you would all agree that I tried. To be true, to be strong, to be kind, to love, to be right. But I wasn't. And I know you knew this. In each of your ways. And I am sorry. All is lost here, except for soul and body, that is, what's left of them, and a half day's ration. It's inexcusable really, I know that now. How it could have taken this long to admit that I'm not sure, but it did. I fought till the end. I'm not sure what that is worth, but know that I did. I have always hoped for more for you all. I will miss you. I'm sorry.
All Is Lost is a 2013 action drama film[7] written and directed by J. C. Chandor. The film stars Robert Redford as a man lost at sea.[A] Redford is the only cast member, and the film has 51 spoken English words. All Is Lost is Chandor's second feature film, following his 2011 debut Margin Call. It screened Out of Competition at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.
Among many honors, the film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Sound Editing (Steve Boeddeker and Richard Hymns) and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score (Alex Ebert). Redford was nominated for his own Golden Globe and won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor.
In the Indian Ocean eight days earlier, the man wakes to find water flooding his boat. It has collided with a wayward shipping container, ripping a hole in the hull. The man uses a sea anchor to dislodge the container, then changes course to tilt the boat away from the hole. He patches the hole and uses a manual bilge pump to remove the water from the cabin. The boat's navigational and communications systems have been damaged by saltwater intrusion. The man tries to repair the marine radio and connects it to one of the boat's batteries. When he climbs the mast to repair an antenna lead, he sees an oncoming tropical storm.
When the storm arrives, the man runs before the wind. He intends to heave to, but as he crawls to the bow to hoist the storm jib, he is thrown overboard and only regains the deck after a desperate struggle. The boat capsizes and rights itself; during a second roll, which throws the man overboard again, the boat is dis-masted and most of the equipment is destroyed. After going below deck and being knocked out by colliding with a post, he regains consciousness to find the boat sinking, so he abandons ship in an inflatable life raft. When the storm has passed, he salvages whatever he can from his sinking boat and transfers it to the raft. Before the boat sinks, he tends to the gash on his forehead.
As the man learns to operate a sextant, he discovers he is being pulled towards a major shipping lane by ocean currents. He survives another storm but his supplies dwindle, and he learns too late that his drinking water has been contaminated with sea water. He improvises a solar still from his water container, a plastic bag, and an aluminum can, producing fresh water, and he snags a fish, but it is snapped up by a shark before he can reel it in.
The man is passed by two container ships, but he is unseen despite him using signaling flares. He drifts out of the shipping lane with no food or water. On the eighth day, he writes a letter, puts it in a jar, and throws it in the ocean as a message in a bottle. Later that night, he sees a light in the distance. He uses pages from his journal along with charts to create a signal fire. The fire grows out of control and consumes his raft. He falls into the water and allows himself to sink. Underwater, he sees the hull of a boat with a search light approaching his burning raft. He swims towards the surface to grasp an outstretched hand.
All Is Lost was written and directed by J. C. Chandor, his second feature film, following 2011's Margin Call. Chandor developed the idea for All Is Lost during his time commuting from Providence, Rhode Island to New York City.[9] After meeting Robert Redford at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, where Margin Call premiered, Chandor asked the veteran actor to be in the film. On February 9, 2012, Redford was confirmed as All Is Lost's only cast member.[10] With only one character, the film has no dialogue, although there are a few spoken lines.[11] The shooting script was only 31 pages long.[9]
Principal photography began in mid-2012 at Baja Studios in Rosarito Beach in Mexico. Baja Studios was originally built for the 1997 film Titanic.[10] Filming took place for two months in the location's water tank.[12] In addition the crew spent "two or three days" filming in the actual ocean.[13] Chandor would later remark that completing the film was "essentially a jigsaw puzzle"[13] and that the crew spent less time on the actual ocean than the film would have viewers believe.[13] At a press conference after the film's screening at Cannes 2013, Redford revealed that his ear was damaged during the production.[14]
A soundtrack album featuring ten original compositions and one new song, all written, composed, and produced by Ebert, was released on October 1, 2013, by Community Music.[17] On September 12, 2013, the song "Amen" from the soundtrack was made available for streaming.[18]
All Is Lost screened Out of Competition at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival on May 22.[19] The film was distributed theatrically by Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions jointly in the United States.[20] FilmNation Entertainment handled foreign sales. In February 2012, Universal Pictures acquired distribution rights to the film for 19 territories including the United Kingdom, Australia, France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, South Korea, Russia and Scandinavia. Other deals were made with HGC in China, Square One Entertainment in Germany, Sun Distribution in Latin America, Paris Filmes in Brazil, Audio Visual Entertainment in Greece and Pony Canyon in Japan.[21] It began a limited release in the United States on October 18, 2013.
Film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 94% of critics gave the film a positive review based on 238 reviews; the average rating is 8.00/10. The site's consensus states: "Anchored by another tremendous performance in a career full of them, All Is Lost offers a moving, eminently worthwhile testament to Robert Redford's ability to hold the screen."[22] On Metacritic the film has a score of 87 based on 45 reviews, considered to be "universal acclaim".[23]
After the screening of the film at the Cannes Film Festival, Redford received a standing ovation.[24] Writing for The Independent, Geoffrey Macnab says the film was "utterly compelling viewing".[25] Andrew Pulver, writing for The Guardian, says that "Redford delivers a tour de force performance: holding the screen effortlessly with no acting support whatsoever."[26] Justin Chang of Variety says of Redford's performance that he "holds the viewer's attention merely by wincing, scowling, troubleshooting and yelling the occasional expletive".[27] Robbie Collin of The Telegraph says, "The film's scope is limited, but as far as it goes, All Is Lost is very good indeed: a neat idea, very nimbly executed."[28]
However, the film has been criticized in the sailing world for being unrealistic, in particular for the lack of certain safety equipment deemed standard for sailboats navigating the open ocean, such as an EPIRB, and other bad decisions made by the main character.[32][33][34] An exception to this criticism is English Yachting Monthly, in which Dick Durham claims: "Certainly the film is authentic and grippingly realistic."[35] Director Chandor himself, who says he went sailing with his parents when young and later a few times as an adult, stated in an interview with German sailing magazine Segeln [de] that everything that happened in the film could have happened in reality. His only reservations were about the probability of crossing the Indian Ocean single-handed and the failure to evade the storm using modern technology and due attention.[36]
Unlike Tom Hanks in Cast Away (2000), who speaks and yells his mind, and socializes with a volley ball, Our Man is the epitome of restraint. He is the strong and silent type of veteran sailors on a solo voyage, who encounters the misfortune of being stranded in the vast ocean. At the beginning of the film we see Our Man wake up to find his sailboat has been hit by a loose cargo container floating by. The sailboat is taking on water through a hole in the hull. The radio and equipments are damaged. Our Man deals with the situation resourcefully. He uses a repair kit to mend the damage, pump water out, dry out his boat. We see him eat and shave.
Like Life of Pi, the ending is open to your own interpretation. Two lines of thoughts conjured up as I watched the open-ended final scene: Only when one has lost all would one be saved. Or, go into that good night with gentleness, for brightness awaits. I can see both these scenarios to be applicable here. Again, this is one of those films that leaves the viewer to draw the conclusion, a type of ending which may not be very popular but one that conveys the multiplicity of reality.
During a solo voyage in the Indian Ocean, a veteran mariner awakes to find his vessel taking on water after a collision with a stray shipping container. With his radio and navigation equipment disabled, he sails unknowingly into a violent storm and barely escapes with his life. With any luck, the ocean currents may carry him into a shipping lane -- but, with supplies dwindling and the sharks circling, the sailor is forced to face his own mortality.
All is Lost is Everyman at sea. Its minimalistic nature and simple story of survival are like the iceberg that sank that other ship in that it holds a lot more body under the surface than it initially shows up top. At least, that's what I think, it could just literally be The Old Man and the Sea.
A few dodgy special effects and music cues aside, this is another year-end catch-up winner, about on even footing in my mind with GRAVITY in the Tales Of Impossible Survival category. It's less technically impressive than GRAVITY, but feels more elemental. The lack of dialogue, biographical details, even a name for the Redford character lends the already tense story an allegorical heft about the universal struggle against the dying of the light.
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