Day 193: All is Lost (September, 18)

I turned on the TV and saw that Até o Fim was about to start. The Portuguese title (translated as Till the End) is very similar to the Seth Rogen's production This is the End. The relaxing time is still on, so I decided that it would be today's film. The beginning is very dark, and I was a bit surprised. The voice-over narration is somber, and I thought that I've never saw this actor/director in such a contrite state. 

Well, that's because it wasn't Seth Rogen. 

The names are similar in Portuguese, but there's no mistakes in the original titles. All is Lost, a 2013 movie with Robert Redford, I skipped on the big screen because I thought it would be too stereotyped. Well, the cliches are on my sometimes overly prejudiced mind, because this movie is amazing. Stunning cinematography in a kind of story that grips me all the time. A man alone in the middle of the ocean dealing with possible misfortunes fights for survival. He is skillful without being MAcGyver. His attempts to survive are believable, without recurring to sentimentalism. We don't need to know his name or his background to understand his fight. It is a gripping and sober narrative that keep us on front of the screen for its 106 min. I wasn't able to move from the sofa, wanting to know what would come next.

What I felt was similar to my feelings while reading A Hundred Days Between Sea and Sky. I was so anxious to Amyr Klink finally end his journey, that I felt like it depended of how fast I could read (I know it was not, though. Don't worry :) The same happened here, and because of that I remained glued to the screen.

Robert Redford is somewhat terrifying here. He conveys so much in his solid performance that there was no way I would let him alone on his misfortunes. That way, what at first looked to me like a overly sentimental and cliched movies, is an amazing story about survival.

Along the great performance of a sole  man on screen and a daring cinematography, the sound design is something to praise here. The Dolby 5.1 put me right there with Redford on his sinking boat, creating a sense of claustrophobia and the conviction that in fact all is lost.

Something that this dare has teaching me is how I should revise the amount of (good) movies that I decide not no see in the theater. Because even if I'm also learning that a movie can be incredible in my small TV, the cinema is the appropriate place for most of movie's productions. And it was a real shame to miss All is Lost on the big screen.

All is Lost. Directed and written by J.C. Chandor. With: Robert Redford.
USA, 2013, 106 min., Dolby Digital, Color (Cable TV).

PS: This movie reminds a lot what I also felt with Gravity. The situation here is more down to earth (I know there's a lot of puns in that sentence, sorry), but the two character's struggle on both productions, and the silent way by which their story are told are similar (yes, contrary to what I read on some comments on the Internet, I think there's a strong story in both movies). I felt the same angst in front of the predicament portrayed in both movies, and I wasn't able to leave those people there, on their misfortunes, alone. So I ended up struggling along with them.