Originally conceived as an idea by Tom Hanks in the early 90’s, CAST AWAY wouldn't find its spark until Robert Zemeckis came on board. Hanks and Zemeckis would reunite six years after GUMP  to create something even more devastating and revealing of the human condition, including our frankly insane obsession with the construct of measurable time. Hanks plays severe workaholic Chuck Noland, a jetsetting Fedex employee who streamlines their depots around the world, ultimately unable to connect fully with his fiance Kelly (a heart wrenching performance by Helen Hunt) in order to sustain a life together; productivity and efficiency dominate his entire being. Showcasing what is possibly the most harrowing plane crash sequence in film history (next to FLIGHT), Chuck's ill-fated holiday journey across the Pacific lands him entirely alone on a tropical island. The majority of the film takes place on this marooned, not-so-tropical-paradise, but the heart wrenching core of this story lies within what happens after, and what happens when someone has been completely isolated from those they love for far too long. Zemeckis zeroes in on what it feels like to be a true outsider, a person facing down the impossibility of reintegrating back into a world that no longer exists for them. Combining the weight of individual enlightenment and self-sustainment, plus the knowledge that an inanimate object can become your whole reality in the blink of an eye; it allows one to take a step back and look at the reality that they were never really able to connect with in the first place. Still to this day, CAST AWAY remains one of Zemeckis’ most masterful and boldly experimental achievements.