Who is this man? The protagonist in "All is Lost" is also its sole character — an older (but astoundingly fit) stranded sailor portrayed by 77-year-old Robert Redford. He's unnamed, and does not speak except for right at the beginning of the film when he's reciting a letter to persons unknown. The letter is couched as an apology, but for what sin we do not know. "I will miss you," he says by way of farewell. He wears a wedding ring on his left hand, but there's no telling to whom he's directing this missive.
The story begins eight days earlier, when the man wakes to find that a wayward ship container has pierced a large hole in the side of his yacht. Alone and out at sea, the man goes through a series of tasks in order of importance: 1. Check to see if the electricity is working (it's not); 2. Assemble the tools necessary to plug and repair the hole; 3. Sustain himself with a can of beans; and so on. It's a slow, painstaking process, and this man doesn't even have a volleyball to talk to at night, like Tom Hanks in "Cast Away." One by one, his resources fall away. A cargo ship passes close by, but no one sees him as he signals in vain.
The director is J.C. Chandor, whose debut feature "Margin Call" was a story about investment bankers when the global economy took a nosedive toward unmitigated disaster in 2007-8. Now showing in Japan, "All is Lost" is his second feature and, at first glance, the two may as well be set on different planets. But there's one outstanding commonality: Both reveal an inordinate fascination with human beings trying their darnedest to survive and deploying every resource at their disposal, not least their own store of knowledge, experience and willpower.