Alone at sea, 1,700 nautical miles from shore in the Indian Ocean, one man awakes aboard his yacht, the “Virginia Jean”. The boat is taking on water after being struck by a shipping container fallen from a freighter and floating at sea. He repairs the hole, but the salt water has damaged his equipment and he’s sailing blind. All is Lost traces this man’s journey against the elements in a fight for survival and the end result is a tremendous piece cinema unlike anything you’re likely to have seen before.
All is Lost was written and directed by J.C. Chandor (Margin Call), from a script only 30 pages long, largely consisting of prose describing one scene to the next, without any dialogue. As it turns out, the film, which features Robert Redford in the lead (and only) role, includes only a few lines of dialogue, the majority of which are “help”, an expletive, a brief S.O.S. call and a bit of somber voice over heard over a blank screen during the film’s opening seconds as water gently laps in the darkness.
Yes, the film is ambitious to say the least. It’s also harrowing, uplifting and truly encapsulates the essence of the human spirit in a way that never feels manipulative or staged. In today’s world of cinema it’s a monumental achievement in that it ever got made, let alone the fact it turned out this good.
Depending on the necessities for survival, rather than cliched moments of flashback or reminiscing over family memorabilia, All is Lost uses only the opening narration to give you any clue as to who Redford’s character is, the rest is simply a matter of connecting with his resilience and determination to live.
Credited as “Our Man”, Redford wears his 76 years with confidence, never giving us reason to believe his character won’t do anything and everything within his control to remain alive. In fact, upon noticing the puncture in his ship’s hull he looks on with hardly a shrug and gets to work on repairs. It isn’t until over an hour into the film, after he’s survived severe rain storms, rolling waves sending him into the churning ocean and more that we finally see the slightest crack in his demeanor. It’s this patience with character and plotting that turns the film into such a standout success.
I kept checking my watch while I was watching, not because I was bored, but to take note of the storytelling beats Chandor continues to hit. Noticing what takes place 20, 30, 60 minutes in, impressed at the way he could hold an audience captive for 105 minutes and how meticulous he was in his planning.
“Our Man” has a sextant as his only navigation device, which Chandor uses not only as a storytelling device, but as a measuring device for the audience. There were moments during the film I would think to myself, “He’s got to measure where he is!” Almost panting with interest. Sure enough, out would come the sextant and he’d mark his map with a blue “X”. I didn’t wait for these moments because it was of the utmost importance to me where in the ocean he was, but because it helped create a rhythm to the film, something I could hold on to and count on. It was the only reassuring fact we had.
Arriving on the heels of Margin Call, All is Lost serves to prove Chandor’s promise after only two feature films. Stripped clean of anything and everything you could use to compare All is Lost to Chandor’s Oscar-nominated Margin Call, you could hardly tell the two films were from the same person. I’m sure once we’ve seen more of his films a greater level of connective tissue will be visible, but for now, the range he possesses is impressive and vast to say the least.
Visually, the film is striking as it balances beautiful underwater shots with ominous watery collisions combined with a tremendous sound mix. The score from Alex Ebert also blends so perfectly well with the film, most of the time you hardly notice it and even then it adds just that little extra layer of atmosphere to either set the audience at ease or raise your pulse.
Considering this is a nearly dialogue free feature with only one actor, I can’t help but believe this is going to be a mainstream hit. It’s an existential exercise that everyone can connect with, but it’s a thriller at its core. Just watching as “Our Man” has to manually pump water out of his boat, you begin to feel his pain and connect with his struggle. You wish you could help and not only do you believe his plight, you believe he can survive, as the terrifying situation weighs heavy on your heart.
