Bold Man and the Sea: All Is Lost

No matter how hard you try, every year it seems you miss a few pictures that you know are up there with the years' best. So with all the enthusiasm in the air for The Martian, it seemed like a good time to finally check out All Is Lost, the 2013 film about another shipwrecked individual, trying like hell to survive. Talk about being worth the wait. All Is Lost is a spectacular movie, and features a remarkable solo performance by the great Robert Redford.

Redford is simply Our Man, the lone character in the film. He's on a solo sailing voyage in the Indian Ocean, hundreds of miles from Sumatra when he wakes up to discover a hole in his yacht, seawater pouring in. In a fluke of bad luck, he's collided with a drifting steel cargo container, and things go from unexpected to dire very quickly.

A huge part of the pleasure of this film is the intimacy the camera has with Redford. It has a remarkable you-are-there feel, as Redford quietly goes about his business using his knowledge and seamanship to make repairs and remedy his circumstances. It's a film that's nearly dialogue-free, in which we see resourcefulness trade places with anxiety on more than one harrowing occasion.

Great cinema gives you an experience and takes you into someone else's life in a way you've never imagined, and that's exactly what writer-director  J.C. Chandor (Margin Call, A Most Violent Year) gives us here. Collaborating with cinematographers Frank G. De Marco and Peter Zuccarini, Chandor creates a painterly, realistic sense of what it feels like to be on a boat in the middle of the ocean, miles from any other living soul. Storms roll in out of nowhere, and if there are special effects in All Is Lost, they're seamless, as it appears this film was shot entirely out on the open sea, which as Steven Spielberg will attest, can be an absolute nightmare. Redford is simply amazing here, his face beyond expressive in the most naturalistic way. Concerns ripple across his weathered face, sinking into dread. It's a story of the human experience bared raw, exemplified by one man's struggle to keep thinking and somehow just survive. That Redford wasn't nominated for his work here is an absolute travesty, as All Is Lost is a career-crowning achievement. At the age of 77 when this film came out, he continues to be a unique and compelling presence, doing his own stunts here that seem utterly foolhardy, more often than not, soaked to the bone.

The sound team (Steve Boeddeker and Richard Hyams received the films' only nominations) along with composer Alex Ebert, creates an eerie and atmospheric mix of wind and water, combining with the sounds of ever-weakening, strained equipment.

I just can't say enough about this film. I love nautical stories with a passion, but Chandor and Redford have given us a piece of cinema here that feels more like a dream. It's truly unique,and completely human, and you will find your blood running cold and your heart sinking, and then some. All Is Lost is just tremendous, and I'm kicking myself for missing it in the theater. This is one of the finest man-against-nature sagas I've seen, and an unforgettable story of a small human spark, trying like hell not to go under. Very highly recommended.