All Is Lost (2013)

ALL IS LOST  (2013)  ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢
    D: J.C. Chandor
    Robert Redford
In "All Is Lost", Robert Redford plays a character without a name. In the credits, he's identified simply as "Our Man". Which makes sense, when you think about it. Redford's been our man, or some projection of who we'd like to think we can be, for close to 50 years. So here he is, looking weathered but fit in his 70s, playing a guy trying to survive all by himself when his sailboat goes down in the Indian Ocean. There's next to no dialogue and Redford's the only actor in the film. He's sleeping below deck when a freight container full of shoes rams the boat, ripping a gash in the hull. From that point on, it's our man against the sea, an adventure every bit as tense and exciting (and solitary) as Sandra Bullock's space odyssey in "Gravity", another film where the stakes are high, the odds are extreme, and heroism and ingenuity might not be enough. Take it as a metaphor for humanity in general and our collective struggle to survive in the 21st century, and the feeling is even more ominous. If all is lost for our man Redford, the outlook can't be too good for the rest of us.