All Is Lost (J.C. Chandor, 2013)

This is a movie whose Wikipedia summary is less a summary than an accurate description of everything that occurs during the film.  So let me just say that this is a movie where Robert Redford endures a harrowing ordeal at sea.  I suppose the film to compare this to Cast Away, which has slowly become the gold standard by which these sorts of survival movies are compared.  I didn't think much of Cast Away when it came out.  It seems overly fascinated with all of the different ways that a man might survive, and even stay sane on an island for years.  There's no room for fate in Cast Away - in the end Hanks' character saves himself when no one else is going to.  Yes, he gets a bit lucky with that ship at the end, but the way it's presented, it's like he earns that ship.

Redford's character in All is Lost is certainly more resourceful than most people.  Certainly not everyone could make it through what he does in this film.  But what makes All is Lost the better movie is that, ultimately, it's not up to him.  If God deals you a bad hand, then all the resourcefulness in the world isn't going to save you.  How does a man face that knowledge?  Well, the genius of the film is that Redford conveys those emotions with panache.  There's some genius touches in this movie, such as when Redford shaves while a big storm is coming in.  I certainly felt like I learned more about Redford's character than Hanks' in Cast Away, and Redford didn't need to talk to a volleyball to accomplish that.