All Is Lost

Started by MacGuffin, August 27, 2013, 02:24:40 PM

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

MacGuffin






Release date: October 18, 2013

Starring: Robert Redford

Directed by: J.C. Chandor

Premise: After a collision with a shipping container at sea, a resourceful sailor finds himself, despite all efforts to the contrary, staring his mortality in the face.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

Pubrick

never heard of Margin Call.

this looks great, between Life of Pi and Cast Away there's not many places left to go in this subgenre, they haven't stranded an old white dude before. next they should do a resourceful hot chick, and then a dog.
under the paving stones.

Ghostboy

This movie is pretty awesome. Everything you'd want out of a movie about a guy at sea who's boat springs a leak. Pragmatic and no BS (except maybe at one part although its arguable). I loved it.

Mel

Quote from: Pubrick on August 27, 2013, 02:33:13 PM
this looks great, between Life of Pi and Cast Away there's not many places left to go in this subgenre, they haven't stranded an old white dude before. next they should do a resourceful hot chick, and then a dog.

"All is Lost" goes flat out in this subgenre, it is distilled to the purest form: there is no backstory, there is no dialogue, just fight for survival (script is 32 pages long, which tells a lot I guess). With underwater shots, ambiguity in few places it feels European - small budget helped here also as there is no showing off, we see things from the perspective of character. I liked the fact character is old and not some version of "almost superhuman" - quite the opposite as he is sloppy, makes mistakes and gets bitten badly.

It has great sound, I loved the ambient and subtle music. Film is worth seeing for editing alone I guess: this is how jump cuts should be used (I'm easily bothered with them, but not in here). Robert Redford is on fire, what else to say?

Great interview as a bonus (I don't think there any spoilers):

Simple mind - simple pleasures...

jenkins

fwiw i now want to go see this. thanks

Mel

It is definitely simplest and most focused production I have seen this year, yet it is still buzzing in my head. This could be my favorite film of the year ("Killer Joe" was my favorite of 2012, so there is pattern I guess). There is both madness and boldness is this approach, as complexity in mainstream cinema is perceived as good thing (characters explaining/reviling plot are pretty common etc).

I will point out editing and sound design once again, because those can't get much better than in here. Cracklings, water drops, wind - I want hear more of that. Cutting is seamless, even as I understand from interviews, it utilized more than 300 jump cuts. Camera work deserves also mentioning. There are films that looks better than "All is Lost" this year, "Great Beauty" is such example. On other hand claustrophobic look made me think how hard shooting probably was: operator holding camera very close to Redford inside limited space of boat, which is rocked by weather. There are interviews with DP, which tell a bit: longer version on "paper" from Camerimage and video:



SPOILERS ABOARD!

There are so many great scenes, worth discussing.

First of all: backstory. There is scene, where he opens the box in the raft and finds envelope... and nothing happens. This is playing on our expectations, as we want to know more about him, but writer makes it clear that we don't need a backstory. Much is left to our imaginations. Is he running from society? Does that makes a container full of junk an irony?

His age. This works on so many levels. Probability that he can die to some minor mistake is right there, no need to spend 100 millions dollars on special effects to make that convincing. Question why he is still fighting is relevant whole time without introducing artificial narrative: he is old, he is tired, he will die soon anyway. This works also on metaphorical level (old man and sea right?): end of journey, end of life.

Some reviews pointed out heavy acting, yet there is no screaming and kicking (and yes I'm bashing Gravity). There is wonderful scene (my favorite), where raft is tumbled by storm, he flips it back and gets inside... just to close eyes and block sound by putting hands on the ears like a small children. We know that he had enough and is scared beyond believe. We know his situation is serious from the very beginning, yet we can deduce more from his face than from action around him (transitions from bad to worse).

There are also funny moments e.g. when he unleashes his frustration by screaming "fuck". There is also small inside joke: Redford, and environmentalist, throws plastic into the ocean. Those small things...

SPOILERS OVERBOARD!

I'm not sure about replayability of "All is Lost", but to be honest I don't care that much about it - I'm not the guy who watches the same thing dozen a times anyway.
Simple mind - simple pleasures...

jenkins

i did see this. thanks mel, you've said things best. its oscar nom is for sound editing, in fact

super fucking impressed by when the boat flips and he's underwater and he swims to the wheel and turns the wheel to flip the boat back over. is that how that works? writing it down. redford is 80 or whatever and he's 10x manlier than me. imo i'm a better baby (through rigorous training) and i have to write down his man skills

Mel

Two featurettes that give a small glimpse behind the scenes:





Simple mind - simple pleasures...

Alexandro

this film was beautiful and tense. it just moves along at it's own pace and grabs you and makes you get into that tempo. knowing nothing about the main character, you are left with two choices: you either speculate on his own individual circumstances or you just are in the moment with him, figuring out how not to die. or you alternate between those two.

despite the matter of factness, the rigorous step by step way the film shows what goes on, that down to earth, no bs quality manages to give way to some sort of transcendent trip by the time it ends. it leaves you with a very unexpected high.