Ang Lee's "Life of Pi" is a miraculous achievement
of storytelling and a landmark of visual mastery. Inspired by a worldwide
best-seller that many readers must have assumed was unfilmable, it is a triumph
over its difficulties. It is also a moving spiritual achievement, a movie whose
title could have been shortened to "life."
This movie tells the story Pi (Sharma), his family and all
the animals from their zoo are thrown to the sea in a terrible storm while
travelling on a boat from India to Canada. Only Pi survives, drifting for weeks
in a lifeboat with the dubious company of a vicious tiger as both fight for
survival.
The movie quietly combines various religious traditions to enfold its story
in the wonder of life. How remarkable that these two mammals, and the fish
beneath them and birds above them, are all here. And when they come to a
floating island populated by countless meerkats, what an incredible sequence
Lee creates there.
Lee is always in complete control of the story. This feels like the work
of a director not only at his most confident and creative but also
enjoying himself more than he ever has before. Typically, even when his
stories are those of passion there is something a little chilly in the
grace of Lee’s films.
Life Of Pi exists on the bleeding edge of technology and every penny of
its budget is on screen, yet it isn’t a film from which you’re likely to
take memories of a single money shot or sequence. There’s too much
going on to separate isolated moments; it’s all impressive pieces in a
unified puzzle. This is a director laying out both the world around us,
and the possibilities of cinema to present it, and asking: isn’t this
amazing?
by Joy
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