'All is Lost' - new solo sailor movie from Robert Redford

by Sail-World Cruising on 10 Sep 2013 If, as a leisure sailor, you have seen 'A Perfect Storm' and identified, and/or seen 'The Life of Pi' and identified, you will not want to miss Robert Redford's new sailing movie, 'All is Lost'. In the movie he is a solo sailor, and as an actor, he not only provides a solo performance, he does it with hardly any dialogue.

This is redolent of the 2000 movie Cast Away, where Tom Hanks’ character was stranded alone on a deserted island for more than four years. There was no dialogue during his time on the island, and this translated to just over half of the 143 minute movie. It seemed like a lot at the time, but Robert Redford has reportedly set a new benchmark for a solo movie performance.

All Is Lost is scheduled for release on October 18 and has no other cast.

At the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, where the film premiered in May, Redford’s performance generated some early Oscar buzz.

'I wasn’t 100 percent positive that this was going to work,' Redford said. 'We had some scary days when we were finishing up the film, where we were all kind of like looking around with our distributors and kind of going, ‘Is this it? Is this the movie?’

'By that point, I felt very very strongly that it was. An older guy in the latter stages of his life, and I just felt like that was the best version of this movie.'

Here are some of the reviews following the screening of the film at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival…

Geoffrey Macnab, The Independent: 'utterly compelling viewing'
Andrew Pulver, Guardian: 'Redford delivers a tour de force performance: holding the screen effortlessly with no acting support whatsoever'
Justin Chang, Variety: '(Redford’s performance) holds the viewer’s attention merely by wincing, scowling, troubleshooting and yelling the occasional expletive'

I can't wait. See the trailer here: