W
hen I last spoke to J.C. Chandor, the
writer and director of All is Lost, he had
just returned from the film’s premiere at
Cannes and was basking in the afterglow
of an enthusiastic reception there.
“This is a film that needs to be seen on the big screen,”
Chandor said. “The audience needs to be able to get their minds
in the place of the main character. At Cannes we had a theater
with 2,500 people all leaning forward in their seats. Sound — as
well as visuals — is a huge part of this film, and the audience
definitely got it. We had incredible cinematography — so good
that things we shot in reality were assumed to be computer-
generated special effects. But in the end it was the talent and
dedication of Robert Redford that dominated. While this is an
experiential action movie, it is also quite existential.”
The premise is one that anyone who has ever lived aboard
a boat at sea can relate to: Sound asleep in the dead of night
on a passage in the Indian Ocean, a massive thud reverberates
through the hull. The sailor is Robert Redford, and he is
alone on his fairly modest 39-foot sailboat. The early light of
dawn reveals that the fateful bump in the night was a partially
submerged shipping container knocking a gaping hole into
the side of the boat. The sailor’s calls for help on the VHF
radio are about the only dialogue in the whole movie, and the
response to them is only static. Despite his heroic efforts to
patch the hull, the sailor is drawn inexorably into the path of
a violent storm. Soon he succumbs to the inevitability that his
boat will sink, and his new reality is life adrift in a raft.
Making a film entirely in and around the water was a
huge challenge for Chandor, whose debut feature film, the
Oscar-nominated Margin Call, featured an ensemble cast
and extensive dialogue. This time it was just Redford and the
harsh realities of survival at sea.
“It’s a very big challenge being alone, with no crutch,
no dialogue, no words,” Redford said. “It’s a challenge that
attracted me a lot as an actor. I believe in the role of silence
in film, and in life, because we often talk far too much.
Silence allows you to really live your role and forces you to
totally trust the director.”
Chandor characterized the film as a realistic portrayal
of “Our Man” — the only name Redford’s character has
in the script — coming to grips with his own mortality.
He didn’t want this to be a superhero film, but rather one
about the particular things the man experiences in his days
at sea that define whether he lives or dies. “Average people
in extraordinary circumstances” is how Chandor described
DIVE SLATE
16
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FALL 2013
All Is Lost
tale of ocean survival
b y s t e p h e n f r i n k
