Redford steals Cannes show with comeback film
FRANCE: He has almost no dialogue and the character he plays
is never named, but Robert Redford delighted Cannes on Wednesday in his
first meaty starring role in years, a solo performance as a lost-at-sea
yachtsman fighting for his life.
Now a hardy 76, the leading man of “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance
Kid”, “The Sting” and “Out of Africa” carries “All Is Lost” by J.C.
Chandor single-handedly, with just a few scripted lines.
He plays a retired man on an Indian Ocean voyage whose vintage
sailboat collides with a shipping container and begins taking on water
through a gash in its side.
Chandor dispenses with explaining the skipper’s background -- he’s
not even given a name -- but presents Redford with all manner of trials
to show off his acting chops and enduring physical prowess.
The director bagged an Oscar nomination for the screenplay of his
2011 feature debut “Margin Call” about a disastrous investment bank
failure which premiered at Redford’s Sundance independent film festival.
Breaking away from that picture’s ensemble cast and complex plot,
“All is Lost” is “an existential action movie”, Chandor says. The movie
premiered out-of-competition at the festival, which ends on Sunday.
Double Oscar-winner Redford, who has focused on behind-the-camera
work and philanthropy in recent years, said that despite all the young
filmmakers he had taken under his wing, Chandor was the first Sundance
alumnus to hire him.
“This allowed me to just be an actor again, because that’s how I
started,” he told reporters after a warmly applauded press preview.
AFP |