“All is Lost”
Laura Flippin's latest blog post:
I’ve always been a fan of Robert Redford. From “The Great Gatsby” to “Barefoot in the Park” to “Spy Games” (the latter underrated significantly in my opinion), and with his directorial masterpiece in “Kramer v. Kramer,” he truly is one of the greats in American film. Last year’s “The Company You Keep” was also notable for its reflective qualities, tracing the story of a former 1960s peace activist revisiting his past in an attempt to preserve his present.
Redford’s latest film, “All is Lost” is the latest demonstration of the actor’s tremendous skill in conveying so much without saying a word – literally. Redford portrays a sailor, whose craft is somewhere in the Indian Ocean when it encounters a stray shipping container. Rammed by the shipping container, Redford’s boat is irretrievably damaged. He spends the next 90 minutes working to try to survive , alone at sea, and facing his own mortality. Each time he has reason to hope – a patch in the boat, the light of a passing ship, the possibility of land in sight – instead, fate conspires to throw him back to the mercies of the sea. Nearing the end, he gives up, floating through the waters towards . . . but that would be giving away the film.
Redford has said in interviews that this role was physically punishing to him. He insisted on doing all the work, including demanding scenes where the boat is capsized in a storm, himself, a challenging task but especially so for a 77 year old actor. He is also the only actor in the film, so he has to carry it, but does this with aplomb. And this was part of the appeal of the movie for Redford, who has said of the film: “I welcomed the chance of being an actor in a film in which you’d at least have the chance to perform in a way that could make the audience come close to you. And if that happened, they’d take the journey with you.” This is the heart of what happens in the film – you are drawn in to one of the most famous faces in the world, in an intimate way that reminds you that we are all just human, and vulnerable as well as resilient.
Robert Redford
from Laura Flippin Movie Reviews http://ift.tt/1dBlptv