16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A hard one to get away with, April 24, 2000
This review is from: Castaway [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Some will say that this was a shoddy attempt to retell an old story and shouldn't have been put before the public. I say it is a very good essay at what is an increasingly new story, and should be watched, thought about and digested by a wider audience than it has probably had.
True, it is a genuine R-rated movie, but I liked that part of this particular film. The heroine threw her clothes off the moment she found herself an actual castaway and had she done anything else, such as acting coy with the camera, I doubt the effect would have been the same. So moving on beyond the nudity, of which there is a genuine and, let's face it, realistic sufficiency, what else is left? Making a film about two people trying the experiment of getting far away from the traffic noise and the LOUD TVs AND RADIOS of their former lives (and who can blame them!), cannot have been easy. I mean, what do you do on the island? How do you cope with sudden isolation? How do you react to the only other human being nearby? Do you do anything at all, or do you laze the time away under the palm trees? And most of all, do you change, perhaps grow, maybe learn something more about yourself or the world or other people? All these questions and more are asked and answers are attempted, making this a very thoughtful piece, which at times reaches impressive heights of film-making. Sure we have to struggle a bit with the "plot," but so do the actors. It isn't easy, nor should it be, doing what they have set out to do.
It is also a film that is full of nice touches, like the loud news casts in the beginning which cause us to miss the (English) dialogue. The camera work is interesting too; not too experimental and dangerous but occasionally playing with images, especially goldfish (at the start) and water (on the island) that pull us up and make us wonder. Another odd scene (and there are many scenes which act as vignettes, asking you to pause and consider something in particular) is that in which Donohoe settles down to read a copy of Colin Wilson's "A Criminal History of Mankind." Now why do you think she's reading that particular book on a desert island? Another scene shows them both lying naked in the tent like a pair of skinny Biafran babies, apparently waiting to die from sickness and lack of fresh food and water. Interesting sketches of a life not quite like our own.
I don't suppose it will ever really be a film which is truly admired by a wide audience - there's too much sex and not enough drugs and rock and roll for that. But true cinephiles with an eye for the unusual will enjoy this movie with its very strong portrayals by Amanda Donohoe and Oliver Reed. In fact, it's worth the five stars just for making a good attempt at such a difficult subject. I'll be watching it again, definitely.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A cautionary tale for those with tropical escape fantasies., August 7, 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: Castaway [VHS] (VHS Tape)
This film just about cured me of my annual February fantasies about escaping from our bleak winters. Those who consider this a standard male fantasy film about sharing a desert island with a beautiful young woman weren't paying much attention. It does start out that way, paunchy, fifty something man advertises specifically for a pretty woman in her 20s to share the adventure for one year which he intends to write a book about. It rapidly blows up in his face. That they realistically portray this decidedly unheroic man facing his personal realities as he fails again and again to provide food, shelter, and be a source of sexual attraction to his increasingly frustrated, bored and literally starving young woman is what makes this movie stand out from the usual Hollywood "manly-man impresses woman right into bed" feature film. And it is a true story. At the end of the year together they go their separate ways happy never to have to see each other again. Interestingly, I hear the woman wrote the book and was published within months of leaving the island. I don't know if the man ever did.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a gem of a movie I thought was gone forever, October 15, 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: Castaway [VHS] (VHS Tape)
This is a wonderful movie for multiple reasons. The beautiful landscapes, the interesting relationship that is built between Reed and Donohoe, and the mounting strain of being castaway. Inserted shots of their withered bodies, in conjunction with their images of self is truely gripping. Full of freedom, aka nudity, the roles of man and woman are explored with an honest beauty. While there are some moments with other people on the island that are not as well conceived, some of these moments show the flaws and insecuritites of man beautifully. A movie that is not for everyone, but nice if your looking for something different and beautiful to look at. With such a small audience I was surprised to see a rather old movie still available for purchase. Buy it while you can. I would say hold out for a DVD release, but I am surprised it is even around at all! Who knows if a DVD for this title will ever be produced.
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