Attempts to communicate are foiled by rotten luck and the metaphysical indifference of the universe. A ferocious storm spins, tosses and smashes the boat. The cabin floods, and the onboard electrical system is ruined. An errant shipping container punches a hole in the hull.
“All Is Lost,” an action movie in the most profound and exalted sense of the term, has a simple plot that I hesitate to summarize, less for fear of spoiling anything than because a précis would either miss the point or recapitulate the whole film. Behind the leathery, pragmatic exterior is a reservoir of inexpressible emotion. This role brings him to the pinnacle of reticence but also allows him to open up in startling ways. Redford has always been a magnificent underplayer, a master of small, clear gestures and soft-spoken intensity. There is certainly no other actor who can command our attention - our empathy, our loyalty, our love - with such efficiency. I can’t think of another film that has upheld this notion so thoroughly and thrillingly.
The ancient Greeks believed that character should be revealed through action. We infer that he is someone who can afford a comfortable, well-appointed yacht and the leisure to pilot it in exotic places, something he also clearly has the skill to do. He finds himself in the Indian Ocean, in the empty waters between Indonesia and Madagascar, on a solo sailing voyage. And though this man’s radical aloneness is terrifying, to him and to us, it is also a condition he has chosen, one we might even envy, just as his taciturn competence is something we are inclined to admire. Later - or rather earlier, since most of the story flashes back from that moment of fatalism, eight days into his ordeal - he tries to send a distress call over the radio and tosses a few epithets at his fate. In the opening scene, we hear his voice as he composes a letter of apology and farewell, presumably to unspecified loved ones back home. For the duration of the film, he is the only person in sight. Chandor’s amazing “All Is Lost” - identified only as “Our Man” in the credits and instantly recognizable as Robert Redford, giving the performance of his life - says almost nothing at all. Those guys did a lot of talking, even when nobody else was around.
Piscine Patel in “Life of Pi” had his tiger, Richard Parker Chuck Noland in “Cast Away” had Wilson the volleyball. Even movies that emphasize the isolation of their main characters tend to provide them with companions, human or otherwise. The lonesome strangers of the old westerns almost always had a town to ride into or out of, a buzz of social life to contrast with their individualistic ways. tour will be announced “soon.”įeb.True solitude is a rarity at the movies, for those of us in the audience contending with yakkers and texters, and for the people on screen as well. Pearl Jam, meanwhile, have a European tour booked for June and July, with their website noting that dates for a postponed U.S. Vedder has previewed Earthling so far with two new songs, “Long Way” and “The Haves.” Additional details are available at the Pearl Jam site. 5 at 8PM ET.Īll public tickets will be available through Ticketmaster Verified Fan Registration, which is open now through Dec.
Presale registration is open now through Dec. 30) will be held through Ticketmaster’s Eddie Vedder Request page. A ticket presale for members of Pearl Jam’s Ten Club (those active as of Nov.