This is going to be a tough year for Oscar voters in the Best Actor Category. Chewitel Ejiofor in “12 Years a Slave”, Matthew McCaunahay in “Dallas Buyers Club”, Hugh Jackman in “Prisoners”, and now 77 Year old Robert Redford in the best acting job of his life in “All is Lost”, in spite of uttering only a few phrases on camera. Fans of Redford might think of this as “Jeremiah Johnson ” on water. The title of this gripping lost at sea survivor tale, from filmmaker J. C. Chandor (Oscar nominee for best original screenplay for “Margin Call”), comes from an opening voiceover from Redford’s character, “Our Man”, telling his family that he is sorry but indeed, after eight days lost at sea, with only a half day’s rations, all is lost . We know nothing about our man except that when we flash back eight days to the beginning of his misfortune, except that he is an experienced sailor, of some means, who has prepared his boat, with an eye to safety, with the latest in survival equipment. When a stray shipping container, which gashes his boat Titanic style, rams him, his focus on survival begins. Redford is magnificent in his intense reaction to every conceivable disaster, performing his own stunts, all of which are brilliantly filmed. This may be the year for Redford’s long awaited first acting Oscar.
Rated PG-13
My GPA: 4.0
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