OVP:All is Lost (2013)

Film: All is Lost (2013)

Star: Robert Redford

Director: J.C. Chandor

Oscar History: 1 nomination (Sound Editing)

Snap Judgment Ranking: 1/5 stars

I hit four movies this past weekend in theaters, and like most of my viewing decisions at this time of year, all four were driven by both the upcoming awards season and selecting my personal favorites in cinema (I usually do my announcement right before Oscar-let me know in the comments if I should publish it on the blog)!  Each of the four films I saw this weekend had a major actor gunning for a lead trophy nomination, as well as some other buzz in supporting or tech categories.  The first we’ll discuss is All is Lost.

(Spoilers Ahead) All is Lost is the sort of movie that I like in theory, but not usually in practice.  I love avant garde, go for the gusto sorts of movie ideas, but there’s always a limit, particularly when you’re grading the film on both entertainment value and on execution of a concept, and All is Lost fell horribly flat for me.

I can see the artistry on display, and parts of it I could even admire.  The way that we never actually get a reprieve from the endlessness of the ocean or the way that we never really know anything about “Our Man” (Redford’s unnamed character) is interesting.  Aside from the fact that he wears a wedding ring (from the looks of it, on both fingers, signifying a potential widower?) and named his boat after a woman named Virginia Jean, we know nothing about the point of his endeavors at sea or what drove him into the boundless ocean.

What we do know, though, is that adventure films like this are far more interesting to read about than to actually view, at least in my opinion.  Reading about the inner-thought processes of someone on the brink of survival is far more intriguing, and films such as Into the Wild, 127 Hours, Life of Pi, and All is Lost may give actors the chance to really sink their teeth into physical extremes, but it doesn’t give us anything of substance about their characters or what it truly takes to live in this world.  It’s occasionally fascinating to watch, but what makes it more of a connection is if we truly get to know the person behind the travesty.

This is why I’m a bit floored as to why Redford has received such raves for this work.  Silent acting can be very effective (in fact, considering the ineffective opening narration, it might be a plus), but we know so very little of this man that Redford is more of a concept than an actual performance.  It’s hard to imagine that anyone else would have handled this performance differently-the only special things about it are the idea of an unknown man (which any actor can do by not talking) and the physical endurance that it took to shoot such a picture, particularly for a man in his late seventies.  This latter attribute cannot be denied (it had to be difficult to get in and out of the water and handle the rockiness of the simulated sea), but it’s not “great acting,” unless we consider the stunt performers in action blockbusters to be doing “great acting.”

The film’s concept never sells well in the second half, either.  Here we see Our Man slowly fall into the abyss or understanding there is no redemption, but Chandor doesn’t have the creative follow-through to not go into Hollywood cliché (anyone else see the sharks coming from a mile away…because the camerawork and music told us it was coming a mile away?) and because he doesn’t have the heart to give us a realistic ending.  At the very last moment, when all is truly lost (his raft was just burned and he’s sinking at an alarming rate into the ocean) a hand pulls Our Man out of the water and saves him.  The entire film is predicated under the belief that “all is lost” and we must eventually accept our fate, but Chandor can’t stick the landing and saves us at the last minute.  In a dour movie, it’s a sickeningly sweet ending.

As is going to be the case with a few of these films, I wasn’t impressed but the rest of the world was, but the best question is-were you?  Did you appreciate Redford’s performance or Chandor’s vision?  Do you think Redford will be able to take on Dern, Ejiofor, and McConaughey to take his first acting Oscar?  Share in the comments!