Out of all the boats in all the oceans in all the world,she rams into me

All Is Lost

Crit

One of the many differences between me and Our Man, the only thing we are given to call the semi-ancient mariner played by Robert Redford (which is particularly poignant given that we know the name of his yacht, the Virginia Jean), is that I'd have been a lot more talkative, starting when container/disaster strikes by quoting Hugh Grant's opening line in Four Weddings and a Funeral. In fact, I'd probably have that line pretty much on a loop--except that another key difference is that I probably would have lasted only long enough to blurt it once.

Our Man finally says that word, but only once, a yawp to the universe that has done exactly that to him. Mostly he's stoic, though. I couldn't help compare him to the men in Stephen Crane's great novella The Open Boat. "If I am going to be drowned--" each wonders,

if I am going to be drowned--if I am going to be drowned, why, in the name of the seven mad gods who rule the sea, was I allowed to come thus far and contemplate sand and trees?

Our Man wastes little time contemplating the unfairness of it all; he's too busy trying to overcome it, small detail by small detail. One way to make a one-character, one-location (albeit an infinitely big location) film fascinating to keep the audience wondering, "What is he doing now, and why is he doing it?" The answer always comes in a few moments, but the wondering and the puzzling keep the film from ever becoming static, and also serve to tell us as much about Our Man  as a constant voice-over might. It's an action film wherein the action is mostly in one man's mind and hands.

Trailers

• Nebraska--Alexander Payne; 'nuff said.