Poor’s Mans Moon, There are more fun ways to tell a story about isolation and survival but this one is still effective

★★★☆☆

Normally when I sit down to write a movie review I focus on three main areas:, story, characters, and writing. Sometimes, if a movie is exceptional in a harder-to-notice area, I might talk about cinematography, editing, sound design, or any of the other non-Big 8 oscar categories. But I’m not knowledgeable enough to notice the difference between a good and great movie in a lot of those categories, only an incredible or terrible one. When I sat down to write this for All is Lost, I was included in the ‘all’. I was lost because this is a movie unlike any other I’ve seen before. It stands alone, and that is probably the film’s strongest merit.

All is Lost is the story of Robert Redford and his boat, the Virginia Jean. But that is all the story is. Literally. This is a 105 minute movie with 2 lines of dialogue. I’m trying to put all the warnings up front and center. No one should be taken by surprise by this film. It is a slow film and has little mercy for the viewers when it comes pace. One of its kindnesses is cutting to Robert Redford after he has shaved the left side of his face, so we only have to see him shave the entirety of his right side. But that’s part of the charm of this movie, what makes it so unique. It reeks of realism in a way even some documentaries can’t muster (looking at you, Spurlock).

Over the course of the hundred-plus minutes I spent with Robert Redford, I started to feel for him. It’s hard not to when he’s your only companion, but it’s still impressive what JC Chandor (Margin Call, A Most Violent Year) manages to pull off. Redford has no motivation except, seemingly, to survive. We don’t know why he’s out on the water, only that he is. There is no glancing at pictures of him and his kid to help humanize him, it’s just that he is. “Is” is the perfect verb to describe this movie. It isn’t without some story elements (namely a hole and a storm), but there isn’t your normal Hollywood plotting. Even without all the plot, watching Redford problem solve was fascinating because there is a sisyphean quality to his life out on the water. I was constantly rooting for him to reach the top of his mountain, but inevitably he’d slide back down. When I was at the bottom with him, it felt so bleak that I even found myself rooting for him to die. Not out of malice, or boredom, but because in all Greek tragedies, death is a better fate than existence.

All in all, I have a hard time recommending this movie to most people. However, if you are like me and have seen too many movies, it’s sometimes refreshing to see something so different brought to life by craftsmen like, Chandor and Redford. This movie has moments (and one incredibly timed sound effect) that will stick with me. It is a successful movie. It sets out to make you feel adrift at sea, and as the credits rolled I felt like I had struck dry land.
All is Lost is available to stream on Netflix and Amazon Prime Instant Video.

Next week, I’ve assigned David one of my favorite dark comedies. It’s full of incredibly quotable moments and he has been willfully ignoring my clever use of them for years. That movie is Heathers.