8:00 PM, 7th June, 2001
No Guests
Finally, the Film Group is going to screen a movie that caters to one of my personal fantasies((mdash))Tom Hanks stranded on a deserted island. By himself. Mmmm.... Chuck Noland (Hanks) is a systems engineer for Federal Express who is obsessed with getting packages to their destinations intact and on time. This obsession doesn't even leave enough time to pay attention to his girlfriend Kelly (Hunt). Thus it's a major deviation from his schedule when his FedEx plane crashes over the Pacific and he is the sole "Survivor". With no pressures except trying to stay alive, he has to find food, shelter and a way to stay sane in complete isolation. How well he succeeds in the last of those objectives probably depends on your point of view, but the island scenes are pretty compelling. Long sequences with no dialogue or music where we watch him undertake the most basic tasks really involve us in Noland's fight for survival. Ultimately the movie lives or dies by your perception of Hanks' performance((mdash))so see it and decide for yourself.
Anna Monro