CASTAWAY is Nic Roeg's chance to make a desert island film and the result is typically obtuse, although not as profoundly moving as his classics like WALKABOUT and DON'T LOOK NOW. The story is adapted from the book by Lucy Irvine and follows what happens when the young and beautiful Amanda Donohoe answers a classified ad to spend a year on a Pacific island with grizzled Oliver Reed. Now, this is one of the best films I've seen dealing with the desert island topic; no Hollywood fluff piece like SIX DAYS, SEVEN NIGHTS here, just grim realism as our characters soon find themselves at each other's throats. Both actors are up to the role and the location photography boosts the experience, but I do find it more than a little depressing.
Review of Castaway
