All Is Lost With Robert Redford: Review of the Second Film in JC Chandor's Triple Drama Movie Crown

The yachtsman finds himself awakened to sea water-filled quarters from a collision that morning, July 8th, with a loose-cannon, red tennis shoe-filled Ho Won shipment container. He gets the gaping hull painted and patched before bilge-pumping out the water and mopping the floorboards dry. But salt water hinders use of communication and navigational equipment while stormy weather heaves Virginia Jean through re-flooded compartments from 360°-somersaults.

The radio is non-functional before SOS calls transmit whereas the antenna lead atop the mast cannot be repaired due to heavy rainfall and lightning-riddled thunderstorms. The yachtsman therefore jumbles canned food, eating utensils, emergency lighting, heavy-weather gear, horn-rimmed glasses, navigational aids, and water container into a zip-topped inflatable before Virginia Jean sinks. 

Daytime observations and sextant readings keep the yachtsman on course to intersect international shipping lanes. Aggressive sharks, contaminated drink, raft leaks, and severe weather leave the yachtsman stressed. Catchable fish, signal flares, solar stills, and transportation routes of luxury liners and Maersk ships consistently make the yachtsman optimistic about survival.

Effective impulse-control against pain or resignation needs to be backed up by convincingly fail-safe plans. A lidded bottle offers a vessel for a classic message-in-a-bottle -- to attract rescue boats, communicate final testaments, and prepare last rites -- at 4:00 p.m. on July 13th. Matches, paper, and plastic container provide alternate SOS-transmitters in the event of non-functioning or used-up flares.

The yachtsman only questions once fate’s four-letter-word spelling options. 

So the survival drama All Is Lost regales audiences with 105 culturally enthralling, educationally entertaining, geo-historically enthralling minutes through:

• Pete Beaudreau, editor;
• Before the Door Pictures, Washington Square Films production companies;
• JC Chandor, director/producer/writer;
• Arturo Del Río, production manager;
• Frank G. DeMarco, cinematographer;
• Neal Dodson, Anna Gerb, Justin Nappi, Teddy Schwarzman, producers;
• Alex Ebert, musician;
• FilmNation Entertainment, Lionsgate distributors;
• John P. Goldsmith, production designer;
• Frank Iudica, special effects coordinator;
• Marco Niro, art director;
• Mark Norby, stunt coordinator;
• Gabriela Ramírez, set decorator;
• Van Broughton Ramsey, costume designer;
• Laine Trzinski, hair department head; and
• Venues in Bahamas (New Providence Island at Lyford Cay, Nassau), California (Port of Los Angeles, San Pedro, Santa Catalina), Mexico (Baja California at Ensenada, Rosarito). 

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet. 

Robert Redford at the 2013 Cannes Festival (French: Festival de Cannes), where "All Is Lost" was screened out of competition (i.e., did not compete but was projected, along with 20 films competing for the Palme d'Or, in the Théâtre Lumière)
Of his taciturn character, referenced as Our Man in the script, Robert Redford shares: "It's a challenge that attracted me a lot as an actor. I believe in the role of silence in film, and in life, because we often talk far too much."
66th Cannes Film Festival; Cannes, Alpes-Maritimes department, southeastern France: Georges Biard (JJ Georges; Jean-Jacques Georges), CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Robert_Redford_Cannes_2013.jpg

Most of "All Is Lost" was filmed in Baja California's Baja Studios, where the water set was built by James Cameron for marine effects for 1997 blockbuster film "Titanic".
Included among three giant water tanks accessed by J.C. Chandor for "All Is Lost" is world's largest (= three football fields) infinity-edge tank, sited on the ocean shore.
Baja Studios, Rosarito, Baja California: February 24, 2015: Comisión Mexicana de Filmaciones (Comefilm), CC BY-SA 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/comefilm/16451432420/

"All Is Lost Official Trailer #1 (2013) - Robert Redford Movie HD" (2:22)
Uploaded August 1, 2013, by Movieclips Trailers to YouTube ~ URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lk_R04LfUQU

Dubbed as Our Man (Robert Redford), the only character in All Is Lost is not lost, for he knows his location, but is lost, for he seems to have no more options.
"All Is Lost" captions the location of the film as in the Indian Ocean, "1700 nautical miles from the Sumatra Straits."
Our Man (Robert Redford) marks his boat's progress on a navigational map.: All Is Lost @allislostfilm, via Facebook Nov. 27, 2013, @ https://www.facebook.com/allislostfilm/posts/633437500035460