Customer Reviews

Castaway [VHS]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

It's a familiar story: "Let's spend a year on a deserted island." Oliver Reed and Amanda Donohoe are both great as the couple who do this...Reed places and ad, Donohoe answers it, they tumble into bed, and in a few months, they are dropped off at their island in the South Pacific. It seems iyllic, and indeed it is, but things soon begin to fall apart. Shortly after arriving, Reed's feet and legs swell, and he develops hideous, supurating sores all over them. Donohoe becomes angry, shrewish, and pretty much stays that way. We never know why, exactly, this happens--Donohoe thinks Reed is lazy; Reed just...loses his health. Eventually, they become malnourished, but this can't be the reason for Reed's initial decline...they have plenty of food, at least at first.

The couple's slow decline is just that--slow. Donohoe's increasing shrewishness becomes tedious. Still, it's an enjoyable movie. Even though it leaves some questions naggingly unanswered, it also grabs the audience, and holds us, but allowing us to speculate on how *we* would react in such a situation. After all, this movie's scenario is darn near every guy's fantasy: stranded on a deserted island with a beautiful young woman who is almost always naked. (Amanda Donohoe is not shy in this movie.) This, of course, is Reed's dream, too, and it becomes a nightmare.

The movie is flawed, but enjoyable to watch.

I consider this movie a must see for one category of people and a don't waste your time for another category. I predict that eventually, this movie will become a valued "one-of-a-kind" classic which will long outlast many of the classics of the 80's and 90's. Read "all customer reviews" to see the wide diversity of good and bad mixed reviews to better understand my point.

For students of people, of life and especially students of the complexities of the male female relationship this is a film you don't want to miss -- there is none other like it that I've seen. For soft porn fans and students of nude celebrities scenes,yeh you'll find plenty of pubic hair in this film, but be fore-warned, the nudity in this film will only arouse perverts, if them -- it is upliftingly beautiful, natural, genuine. Intentionally, I'm guessing. My wild guess, infact, is that Nicholas Roeg picked out this true story, from many others, as an ideal medium to intentionally use nudity and the global fantasies of older men for the nubile firm bodies of younger women. Why? To bring out the true beauty of the endless human struggle to find that idealized, possibly utopian love that lies way beyond human sexuality. I myself, have seen or read no other work that portrays so understandingly and tenderly the power of sexuality and respect or disrespect, from a woman, to build or destroy a males self-esteem and self confidence while at the same time shows a how a woman's sexuality is so tied to real needs to find her man worthy of respect and admiration.
Beyond the agonizingly painful conflict that sexual tensions so often create in our human couplings, this film also explores the desperateness of the human need to endure; to search out that elusive path through the maze of emotional famine created by neglect and contention -- to find commitment in spite of everything. On that note, for me this movie has one of the most beautiful and uplifting but realistic endings of any romance fiction I have ever seen or read. Without spoiling the end, the whole theme of this movie, for me is beautifully portrayed in the very last seconds by just a few words in a handwritten note Lucy reads as she departs Gerald, there lives parting forever.
Finally, there is this sub-concept also beautifully portrayed through-out the film, a concept this world desperately needs more of. That line repeated several times through-out the movie: "Be kind to my mistakes."

Before watching this movie I thought it would be a sleazy excuse for nudity and sex, it wasn't that at all. Anyone who is a fan of Lucy Irvine or has read her books should enjoy this movie as it follows the book very closely. What nudity there is isn't sexual, and seams very natural when on a tropical island. Lucy, G, and Tuin are all very well portrayed, although the island on the movie is more lush and tropical. All in all, a very good movie, and I was quite happy when I found out there was such a thing.

The day dream of anyone I ever met, put to screen in a fairly representative version of the book by Lucy Irvine who actually did pursue her dream of living on a deserted Island.
The pitfalls and a honeymoon gone to trash upon arrival pose questions we all need to ask ourselves.
The scenery is gorgeous and if you ever wanted to walk naked on a deserted beach in a remote corner of the Indian Ocean. This is a movie worth watching and sharing with your loved one.

I came across this film again,
I saw it first some years ago,
Two people, island, stranded game,
The best of acting I have known.
He's tough; she's beautiful and gay,
The island - paradise and dreamlike,
They had agreed to stay away
From civil pleasures and the mankind.
But isolation, lack of food,
The mental strain and aggravation,
Took toll in settling the mood
With angry fighting and frustration.

The sores had healed of proper care
The world was better, full of food,
And busy life came back prepared
Exchanging problems - bad for good.
But one sore deepest and infected
Would never heal, no matter what,
They failed each other, left neglected,
They cracked the unity accord.
The lesson taught and learned intensely,
There is a limit to the strain,
The best intentions played immensely,
Could crash you down full of pain.

I found that lucy Irving wrote a comment on the movie. Go to: Amazon UK. Castaway, VHS (not DVD) and see what she has to say about the movie. It will answer some questions. I will add additional comments, after I read Gerald Kingsland's book, "the Islander" (very hard to find in the USA) You can (and should) buy Lucy Irving's book, "Castaway". It's available on Amazon, for
ten cents, on up. Certainly the price is right.

An ugly, fat, middle aged guy on a deserted island with a young twenty something
year old woman who likes to run around buck nekkid! The essential male fantasy film!
Now that we are living in 2002, I hope someone will return to this great form
of moviemaking! A good exemplary film for film makers of the new millenium.
BRING BACK THE 80's!