ALL IS LOST: The Movie

[Ocean Girl]

We saw it last night, along with my mom who is a circumnavigator. We all liked it. Funny about what bothered us the most. For me, it was the drop boards! How often he left the hatch open, how often he would put them down below while going up, how they could not be secured. Plus throwing away that piece of water jug while in the life raft, both mom and I wanted to yell" hang on to that!" :-).
It was clear this person was not a very experienced sailor and seemed emotionally detached, so I was ok with the "duh" moments. Though when I single handed I talked to myself a lot, talked to the boat, talked to the dolphins.
What we all agree was accurate -sinking usually is a series of failures and mistakes, not one big one.
Anyways, we liked it.

[OldFrog75]

Originally Posted by Ocean Girl

Plus throwing away that piece of water jug while in the life raft, both mom and I wanted to yell" hang on to that!" :-).

That scene took me out of the movie for a second when I said to myself Robert Redford would never agree to throw plastic into the ocean....

[Stormsailor]

My wife and I saw the movie this evening. My take was it was a much better film than what Hollywood offers as it standard. I have to admit that the errors made by the character in what we would consider to be average sailor prudence did leave us thinking this is not realistic enough to take serious. So,...early on we decided to just enjoy the fact we were finally watching a sailing movie and enjoy it for what it is. Just a movie about the human spirit. Would suggest wait for Netflix .

[Caribsailors]

"If you take the premise that he set sail feeling hopeless about getting back what he lost and seeing the ocean as his final resting place, everything else makes sense. And when he breaks down crying, it's because he's thinking of everything he lost, before he even set sail."

And How Many Of Us Have "Set Sail"?

I know I did, but it's the best this I did for me... and my love that followed me..10 years ago...........

[rockDAWG]

I think we are way too critical about this movie. Is this what happen when we can't go sailing and are getting the land sickness, or we just want to show off to others how great a sailor we were. Over the years, I have known lots of self proclaimed experts in sailing whom have never sailed away from shore more than 10 nm. They always wait for the weather window to do their motor sailing.

I am glad thatChandor made this movie. It is a risky and bold move. I enjoyed it very much for its entertaining value. I want to see it again.

[drewcathell]

Kath and I saw the movie last night, came home and watched the interviews with the writer and Robert Redford and then read this thread. It fascinates me that folks with such a common interest can view the same movie with such different perspectives. That being said I thought I would add one more. I came away with two thoughts. The first was that it would be a good film to use for a class on blue water sailing. An open discussion on things that go wrong and how to handle those things. The second was a disappointment. Other folks have already mentioned a number of the movie's fine attributes. What I don't understand is why a film maker and a skilled actor wouldn't get the rest right. If you are going to make a thought provoking movie about a man struggling with the problems encountered at sea why get it right. Why not talk to folks who know about sailing. Every time I watch a movie that shows some obvious error in an actors behavior I wonder if that is part of the reason the world is getting dumber or less able to be self reliant. Just once I would love to see a woman getting attacked by some guy kick him in the groin and scratch his eyes out. Anyone reading a dozen sea stories would find a movies worth of problems that happen when you are trying your best. We have all made mistakes, we have all encountered a problem we didn't create but had to deal with. I doubt if anyone of us stopped to shave while a major crisis was at hand. In the interview Redford said they wanted to show that folks sometimes need a moment of normalcy in the midst of crisis. Why not include a more realistic moment of normalcy, you know shaking, vomiting, drinking. Things that really happen. It comes across to me as laziness rather than artfulness.

[Target9000]

Dani and I watched it last night at the theater. An abomination. Despite all of the clearly unrealistic reactions/actions that the main character took, my biggest complaint is that I didn't relate with the guy.

I've seen a person stub their toe and have a more "human" reaction than what we saw in this film.

[rockDAWG]

Originally Posted by drewcathell

What I don't understand is why a film maker and a skilled actor wouldn't get the rest right. If you are going to make a thought provoking movie about a man struggling with the problems encountered at sea why get it right.

Remember this was a very low budget film about $10M.

[MBLittle]

Originally Posted by rockDAWG

Remember this was a very low budget film about $10M.

$9M was probably Redford's salary too

[Randy]

A buddy and I saw it and thought it was a comedy. Afterward read Julie Mor's thoughts on it about the idea of him already having lost everything and that he was suicidal. That made sense to me because I respect Redfords work figured he must have been working some deeper aspect into the movie.
Sadly, that seems not to be the case but it does highlight the life on the water at sea is little understood and I'm cool with that.

[tinpusher]

Just saw it and liked it. 3 stars out of 5.
If you enjoy going to movies to find flaws and then come back to forums and show how smart you are you'll love it. I however just enjoyed it for what it was and how it made me think what would I do if that happened, how could it be handled better and be prepared for the worst case scenario.

[vayacondios]

Went in to this movie expecting technical errors but I grossly underestimated the enormous lack of common sense the character seem to lack. This is probably entertaining to anyone without and cruising sense. What really got me was his half assed attempt to save the boat and thus himself. He could have salvaged so much more from the boat, tied it on to things that float with all the line but nope.
I have no doubt there are people sailing around with no common sense. We didn't enjoy it and wouldn't recommend paying to see it for anyone with cruising experience.. Not worth the time even if you don't have anything else to do.

[OldFrog75]

Finally got my hands on a DVD transfer of The Dove. What a contrast. One makes solo circumnavigation look so uneventful even a 16 year old in a 23' sloop without autopilot can do it; the other so filled with potential peril only a very good and well prepared sailor should attempt it.

[Randy]

Originally Posted by OldFrog75

Finally got my hands on a DVD transfer of The Dove. What a contrast. One makes solo circumnavigation look so uneventful even a 16 year old in a 23' sloop without autopilot can do it; the other so filled with potential peril only a very good and well prepared sailor should attempt it.

Where did you find the DVD?

[robert sailor]

I'd like to download Dove as well.....that aside you have to keep in mind that movies such as this one are not made for sailors, the regular Joe out there knows dick all about sailing and none of the concerns registered here would ever come up.