Movies

This simple but very survival movie about a man stuck on a sinking boat is very engrossing and watchable. Who needs grand over blown special effects and fake CGI when you have a good story - it holds attention from beginning to end.Direction is good - you can almost feel the heat, thirst, waves etc that have to be endured.Would liked to have a bit more before and after about how he got out there and after being rescued.Feel for the elderly Redford getting all wet and filming this movie must have been physically demanding.Good and quite memorable.

At least one of the reviewers went into a long list of the sailor's failings. He missed the point (and he forgot to mention the use of a mirror, one of the most important survival items!) It would be like criticising Hamlet for not going to psychotherapy! The strength of this film is that it neither focuses on the perfect sailor nor does it attempt to be epic. There is a stark simplicity and realism about this. I sail and I saw it with a group of six sailing friends. We were all impressed. We saw a few goofs in the film (which we simply forgave) and many sailing mistakes in the fictionary sailor (which we simply understood) ... but that made him and the story all the more real. I'm not sure how this film will appeal to the non-sailor, maybe too much water, but I loved it!

Redford is great and this film shows how such a simple idea with one actor can work. As a filmmaker, it was interesting to see how a dialogue-free movie can work visually with a story that reminded me of Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea." For me, the story was a metaphor or allegory for life and our struggles. Cinematography was good, shot on the Arri Alexa, one of the hot cameras at the moment. The lack of dialogue and having only one actor made it a meditation for me on the visual elements. I hope Redford gets Oscar nomination. I'm inspired that a veteran like Redford had confidence in Chandor to go on this experimental film journey together.