I'm sorry. I know that means little at this point, but I am.

All Is Lost
JC Chandor 2013 USA
Starring: Robert Redford

JC Chandor's All Is Lost holds at the core of its story of an individual struggling to survive alone at sea after a shipwreck a fascinating concept, taking a man who was once the very pantheon of male beauty and making him resemble a buggered henge in a hailstorm. But there are other reasons why the main role is one very few actors could do well. It requires an elderly man, willing to show sufficient weakness to be vulnerable whilst also being enough of an outdoorsman to be credible in the film's more physical moments, who additionally has adequate charisma to carry a near two hour production on his own with no dialogue save for a wistful voiceover during an introduction and his sole antagonist destructive nature itself. When you think about it the film's star Robert Redford is really the only plausible choice with the possible exception of Robert Duvall, although he may be a little long in the tooth to be believable. As well as meeting all the criteria Redford thankfully also has the intelligence to recognise the irony central to the plot; that while 'Our Man' (named to link up with the song that plays over the credits and cleverly and touchingly juxtaposes 'our man' with 'Amen') is presumably successful in his day-to-day life and certainly affluent enough to be able to eschew civilisation as and when it suits him it's precisely this self-imposed isolation and preference for machinery over people that largely brings about his demise. His woes may initially be the result of unforeseen natural circumstance but his lack of connection with others (he doesn't seem to be concerned that anybody may notice his absence and be worried about him and leaves the final message he writes without a named recipient - and that's not to mention the apologetic sentiment of it) only exacerbates his misfortunes and points to the troubling disconnect some see as inherent in modern society. For the record Redford is as magnetic as ever making split-second flickers of emotion like his protagonist's desolate surveying of his capsized boat utterly heartrending but Chandor (who also wrote the script) does well too throwing in scenes such as the one where Our Man wet-shaves (wasting much-needed water) after the primary collision, giving the viewer glimpses of his discipline and mild arrogance as well as his basic human reversion to routine in the face of danger. Unfortunately he falls down in other areas such as using the score by Alex Ebert (of the band Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros) only minimally but loud enough at certain instants that, after shunning it almost completely for the first hour, it comes across as out of place and leaves the distinct impression that Chandor isn't quite sure if he's aiming for affecting realism or detached Hollywood cinema. It's a brave attempt at presenting a decidedly arthouse dynamic to mainstream audiences and is consistently engaging but you can't help but think it could have done with a firmer hand on the rudder (no pun intended) and a director with more experience and diversity than Chandor, whose only other work, 2011's admittedly great Margin Call, owed clear debts to David Mamet.