'All Is Lost' charts the saga of a stoic survivor
What would you do if you were alone and adrift in the Indian Ocean in a 39-foot yacht with a breached hull and no help in sight? If you were the unnamed character played by Robert Redford in 鈥淎ll Is Lost,鈥� you would be very Hemingwayesque. During the film鈥檚 eight-day span you would utter not a single word save for a couple of well-known expletives. Now that鈥檚 what I call grace under pressure.
鈥淎ll Is Lost鈥� is written and directed by J.C. Chandor, whose debut feature, 鈥淢argin Call,鈥� was as talky as this film is not. Redford鈥檚 character is referred to only as Our Man, which is a clue to Chandor鈥檚 mythic pretensions. In the movies, if you want to come across as mythic, it helps to be mute. This is a very American take on heroism, and not an especially realistic one. (Or maybe it鈥檚 British 鈥� Keep Calm and Sail On.) Imagine if Al Pacino were playing the lead here. He鈥檇 never shut up. (It would make a great 鈥淪aturday Night Live鈥� sketch.)
If one buys into the whole grace under pressure thing, 鈥淎ll Is Lost鈥� 鈥� the title is its own spoiler alert 鈥� is first-rate. The conception leaves itself open to satire, of course: I half expected Our Man to collide with the kid from 鈥淟ife of Pi,鈥� or Wilson the soccer ball from 鈥淐ast Away,鈥� or be rescued by Tom Hanks from 鈥淐aptain Phillips.鈥� But of course, this is not how you鈥檙e supposed to respond to the film. In any case, adrift-in-the-ocean movies now qualify as a genre.
The problems for Our Man begin when he鈥檚 jolted awake by a collision with a cargo container left floating in the high seas. (A Chinese shipping container no less. Social commentary?) He methodically goes about patching the breach and bailing water from the boat. His radio equipment has been rendered unworkable.
What is he doing out there all alone? Chandor provides few clues. He flashes back from a voice-over of Our Man dictating a farewell letter to, apparently, an estranged wife or girlfriend, or also, perhaps, his children. Other than this, there鈥檚 almost nothing to discover about his history. (Less back story means more mythos.)
If he is meant to be a stand-in for the rest of us, all I can say is that Our Man is a lot better at celestial navigation than I am. He鈥檚 mostly averse to wearing hats, though, even though the sun beats down on him mercilessly. Maybe Chandor didn鈥檛 want to muss up Redford鈥檚 iconic mane. It鈥檚 not all sunshine, though. Violent storms announce themselves ominously from far off, sounding like timpani of the gods. When they hit, forget it.
There鈥檚 a black comic aspect to all this, like a 鈥淩oad Runner鈥� cartoon in which the best-laid plans keep getting blown to smithereens. But Chandor doesn鈥檛 go in for black comedy (not mythic enough). Our Man鈥檚 Sisyphean turmoil demonstrates not his hopelessness or frustration but, rather, his indomitability. Even the circling sharks seem cowed by his stick-to-it-iveness.
Chandor, within the confines he has set for himself, has done an excellent job of locking us into his hero鈥檚 predicament. And Redford, although I don鈥檛 really buy the mega-strong-and-silent routine, is effective, too. Touching even: When, from the relative safety of his lifeboat, he watches his yacht sink beneath the waves, he looks as if an old and injured friend were expiring before his eyes. The best moment in the movie, for me, is also the simplest. About to abandon ship, he goes to the mirror and shaves. In the eye of insanity, normalcy is a powerful potion. Grade: B+ (Rated PG-13 for brief strong language.)
