All is Lost (2013)

I've heard people say that Gravity was "Open Water in space", so does that make All Is Lost "Gravity in the ocean?"  Or is it "Open Water hung out with Gravity, got drunk, and nine months later All Is Lost was born?"  If so, are they still together, or do they share joint custody?

You're likely going to see a lot of comparisons to Gravity in this review.  Like your inevitable turn to the Dark Side, it's unavoidable, as there are many similarities.  It also doesn't help that they came out roughly the same time.  I apologize in advance if it gets a little annoying though.

I don't have a ton to say about All Is Lost, as it's a good example of limited storytelling.  There's virtually no dialog, only one character and we never learn his name.  It doesn't waste any time getting to the catalyst of his predicament either.  When sailing in the Indian Ocean, the man with no name (Robert Redford) is stirred by a random shipping container colliding with his sailboat.  He's able to dislodge from the container and eventually patch the hole, but this is just the beginning.  As his navigation equipment and radio were destroyed, he's unable to contact anyone for help, and has to rely on his instincts to survive.

Unfortunately for the Old Man at Sea, nearly everything that can go wrong does.  He runs into several storms, the boat capsizes, he's thrown overboard, and the boat eventually sinks.  After abandoning ship, his bad luck continues.  It would be easier to list all the things that go right for him, which is to say nothing.  When he manages to get into a shipping lane and Maersk cargo ship passes him, I could only wonder what the Old Man did to piss off Captain Phillips so much.  Does Tom Hanks have a secret beef with Redford?

All Is Lost is an example of a film where I can praise it for it's performance and recognize its technical merits, but somehow came away from it feeling cold.  I even had a hard time saying whether or not I liked it right after.  While just as dire, Gravity is more of an exciting thrill ride, compared to the bleak tone of All Is Lost.  Even the music, which I found repetitive, seemed to be saying "all is lost".  It's still an intense experience though, and right up until the very end you don't know how it's going to turn out.

I'm not sure why it didn't totally work for me.  Perhaps it is due to seeing a glut of intense films about struggle lately.  It may just be due to the fact that I don't find sailing all that interesting.  I find it a little crazy that someone would sail in the middle of the ocean by himself.  That's related to another thing that bugged me in the early part of the film.  I didn't see much urgency on the part of the Old Man.  He moved very deliberately, and while I understand the need for caution, I couldn't help think, "maybe you should do this a little faster."   Once he patches the ship, he seemed to sail aimlessly, where I would have immediately headed towards help or safety.  Even though he sees the first storm coming, he didn't appear prepared for it.  Take this all with a grain of salt though.  I'm not a sailor, and you wouldn't get me out on a sailboat in the first place.  I'd rather repair a satellite in Earth's orbit than sail on the high seas.

Written and directed by J.C. Chandor, this is much different film from his first offering, Margin Call, which I was a big fan of.  Where Margin Call was a dialogue heavy film, All Is Lost is more of a meditation about a man struggling to survive against the elements.  It bodes well for his future that his first two films are so dissimilar.

I don't think the film would have worked as well if it wasn't anchored (pun intended) by a great performance from Robert Redford.  It's a lesson in how to convey thought and emotion with just subtle glances and body language.  People that complained that Sandra Bullock's character talked to herself too much in Gravity will likely appreciate the contrast here.  Personally, I talk to myself all the time, so I identified a little more with Sandra Bullock's performance, but that's not to take anything away from Redford's.  I'm sure Redford will get some Oscar consideration, but it's already shaping up to be a crowded field this year, with favorites already appearing.

All Is Lost is a film that definitely lives up to its name.  While its gloomy tone left me feeling a bit cold by the end, it's a well-crafted and intense film.  It's also a testament to Robert Redford's ability to captivate an audience without saying anything.  It's definitely worth a watch if it's available in a theater near you.

4 (out of 5) Death Stars

The Company You Keep (2013)

The company you keep, you put yourself above.  I'm on to you!  I still have a soft spot for Hurricane...

Not that the hair-band Hurricane has anything to do with The Company You Keep, the latest Robert Redford directed film, based off a Lem Dobbs screenplay, which was based off the (presumably boring) book of the same name by Neil Gordon.

I might have just played my hand with the previous paragraph, but that pretty much sums up my thoughts on the film.  It's boring.  The Company You Keep is one of those films where they've assembled a great cast of pros (it's well acted at least), then setup a what appears to be a nice thriller/mystery, only to have it play out extremely slowly, with each reveal having no real impact.  This, again, is compounded by the fact this poorly paced film is over two hours.  BROKEN RECORD!  Hey, who said that?  At first glance, when you see the people involved in making the film, and the great cast, you think it might be an early Oscar contender.  Unfortunately, that isn't what we got here.

The Company You Keep begins with Sharon Solarz (Susan Sarandon) being arrested.  We learn that she was a former member of a radical group wanted for a bank robbery and murder of a bank guard nearly 30 years ago.  Local reporter Ben Shepard (Shia LaBeouf) investigates and finds that Sharon was about to turn herself in anyway, and through friends tried to get a local lawyer, Jim Grant (Redford), to take the case.  Grant wasn't interested in the case even though it seemed like something in his wheelhouse.  Shepard presses on, only to find that Grant was also involved in the radical group, and was a suspect in the same bank robbery.  Don't worry, this isn't a spoiler to tell you this.

Grant goes on the run, contacting estranged friends and family in the effort to find Mimi (Julie Christie), a former partner of Grant's.  We aren't sure exactly why Grant is so desperate to find her, but upon seeing that Grant is wanted by the police, she goes out on her own to find him.

This is where The Company You Keep let me down.  You've got all these threads going on with Grant and Mimi, then The Beef (that's what I call LaBeouf) investigating, and the FBI (led by Terrence Howard) hot on their trail, but there's never any urgency to it.  Plot threads and characters are just dropped without any resolution or given much development.  It felt like a TV series that was meant to stretched into a season long arc, but was streamlined to only be two or three episodes.  You might think that means it has a frenetic pace with all the things going on, yet we got the opposite.  It's so slow that I actually had to fight off falling asleep for much of the the last third of the film.  Plus, the conclusion is so anti-climactic that you're left wondering why you bothered sitting through it all.

I'm not sure if this was an issue of the book not translating well, or maybe having to condense too much of it to fit into a movie.  There isn't even an entry for the book or author on Wikipedia, so my research is limited.  From what I can see on Amazon, the book's synopsis seems to have a much different setup than how the movie was, so perhaps too much was changed for the sake of adapting it.  It's shame because I really like Lem Dobbs as a writer, but it looks like he really misses working with Steven Soderbergh (they've done at least three films together).  I don't even think Robert Redford did that bad of a job directing, as he did a good job with the actors, and managed to make it interesting enough in the first half.

It is really well acted though.  Redford is great, as well as Julie Christie.  As hard as I am on The Beef, I actually thought he had the right blend of arrogance, mixed with an honest drive to uncover the truth.  The supporting cast is fleshed out with actors like Stephen Root, Nick Nolte, Brit Marling, Stanley Tucci, Chris Cooper, Anna Kendrick, Richard Jenkins, Sam Elliott and Brendan Gleeson.  When you have such notable actors in smaller roles, you tend to think their characters may be more significant to the actual story, and are disappointed when they aren't in it more or aren't fleshed out enough.  It's just a shame to not see these people get something meatier to work with.  It makes me wonder if Redford just called in a bunch of favors to fill out his cast, or the actors just really wanted to work with him.  Can't say I blame any of them though.

The Company You Keep is yet another well-acted film with a star studded cast, but unfortunately the story comes up way short with its slow pacing and disappointing resolution.  It's not a bad movie, but it is pretty forgettable.  I actually saw this over a week ago and forgot that I never got around to posting my review.  This is not something you need to rush out and see, and has rental written all over it.

2.5 (out of 5) Death Stars