Review of All Is Lost (2013) by Dawdlingpoet — 25 Nov 2021

This is an adventure film, covering themes including flooding, loneliness, drifting and disaster. Its a different film to most, as there's only really the one character and as I say loneliness is one of the main themes, so he is pretty much on his own (he isn't named during the film). I felt it had somewhat of a slightly haunting feel to it, as if we're a voyeur of sorts, watching him slowly try to repair/improve his boat and being, obviously, unable to help - there's something sadly frustrating about the fact we can see his difficulties and know that he is utterly isolated yet we can't do anything to change things. There are few films these days with as little dialogue as this but I suppose, in an ironic sense, it makes it stand out for that fact alone (so maybe you don't always have to be heard to be noticed?!).

As the film went on and the plot slowly built, I found myself feeling more curious about this man at sea - his plans, intentions, his background and so on. His vulnerability comes across quite clearly, thanks to a decent performance from Robert Redford, someone who I don't tend to notice in relatively recent films but I know he was a big name a few decades back. He seems relatively experienced at maintaining his vehicle and yet also unsure of what to do at times.

There are some good instances of cinematography, with numerous different camera angles used to portray his vulnerability while trying to make adjustments. For one example, we're shown him climbing up a mast from the bottom up, with the camera, slightly shakily, zooming in on him. If your at all prone to motion sickness, or indeed sea sickness, then you may be best avoiding this as it does, understandably, feature an awful lot of motion. It wouldn't exactly be realistic if it didn't. There are times in which it felt really quite claustrophobic and I could feel myself really hoping for the best outcome for our unnamed man. I thought it seemed surprisingly atmospheric, thanks to the sound of the weather from outside the boats cabin being clearly heard, the whipping up caused by strong sidewinds and the like.

Content wise, this film contains a couple instances of strong language, although (as previously mentioned) there isn't a great amount of dialogue, so its very ocassional. There is a scene involving blood, although there isn't what I'd deem as especially strong violence and of course there is no sexual content or nudity. Its been given a 12a rating in the UK to reflect this.

As for the soundtrack aka musical score, well, I can't really comment, mainly as there isn't one. Its not just dialogue its low on but apart from a few sparse moments featuring low key instrumental humming type sounds, there really isn't any music as such featured during the film. I think most of the atmosphere this film contains is brought about by the fact that it is mostly so quiet, apart from the sound of the water lapping. There is the irony that sometimes the sea sounds gentle, like a playful person or being, which of course isn't the full truth. They say silence is golden and I'd say that silence is used to good effect, as far as this film is concerned.

I thought this was, all in all, surprisingly well made. I haven't seen too many films like this, set at sea and featuring only one person but I thought it did well, keeping my interest pretty much throughout. At times I was relatively gripped, waiting to see what would happen, how the sailor would manage to get himself out of certain precarious situations.

Yes, I would recommend this film as its something a bit different, it features a good performance from Robert Redford and is surprisingly atmospheric, with some good cinematography. Having said that, it was a shame that we didn't get any extra information about the background of the one, main character and also it won't suit people who are prone to motion or sea sickness, for obvious reasons.