ALL IS LOST is an unlikely hit coming out of the Cannes Film Festival. Directed by JC Chandor and starring Robert Redford, ALL IS LOST is screening out of competition at the festival but is sounding more and more like a potential Oscar contender. It is a powerful story of survival centered on Redford's character who does not have a single line of dialogue in the entire film. Some may consider it a gimmick, but Chandor appears to be going for realism.
Unlike CAST AWAY or LIFE OF PI where surrogate characters like volleyballs and tigers existed for the main character to speak to, Redford's character spends the time alone doing what needs to be done to survive. The result is a movie that seems to, like the first half of WALL-E, need nothing but background sound and music to capture the attention of the audience.
Here is a brief clip from ALL IS LOST featuring Robert Redford doing what few people in their 70s are capable of doing on a boat: climbing the mast.
Deep into a solo voyage in the Indian Ocean, an unnamed man wakes to find his 39-foot yacht taking on water after a collision with a shipping container left floating on the high seas. With his navigation equipment and radio disabled, the man sails unknowingly into the path of a violent storm. Despite his success in patching the breached hull, his mariner’s intuition and a strength that belies his age, the man barely survives the tempest.
Using only a sextant and nautical maps to chart his progress, he is forced to rely on ocean currents to carry him into a shipping lane in hopes of hailing a passing vessel. But with the sun unrelenting, sharks circling and his meagre supplies dwindling, the ever-resourceful sailor soon finds himself staring his mortality in the face.
If the name JC Chandor sounds familiar, he is the Oscar-nominated writer/director of MARGIN CALL, the financial thriller starring Kevin Spacey, Zachary Quinto, and Demi Moore that caught audiences by surprise a couple of years ago.
ALL IS LOST is slated to open in theaters on October 25, 2013.