Life of Pi (3D)

Ang Lee has been in a complicated state as a filmmaker. Lee has directed some spectacular films, such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Yet, whenever his name is mentioned after 2003, Crouching Tiger seems to fade away from the dicussion. His critically bombed Marvel entry, Hulk, became the topic of discussion and thus began the spiral of how his filmmaking fell under a microscope more than ever before. Lee gave a valient effort to break back into critical cinema with titles like the controversial Brokeback Mountain and the under-the-radar Taking Woodstock. Even these, while rather enjoyable films, weren't enough to wash away the unnecessairly poetic, green after taste of Hulk. Now, almost 10 years after his green rage monster destroyed San Francisco, Lee returns to the box office to prove his poetic filmmaking isn't a failing market. And what better source material to introduce his poetic nature than the massively acclaimed Life of Pi? 

Scoping from his early youth to his years of adulthood, Pi Patel (Irrfan Khan) sits down with a curious author (Rafe Spall) to discuss his life travels. Pi recalls how he earned his mathematical nickname, falling in love and discovering numerous Gods in various religions. But the one story that the author has come to hear is one that, promised to him by Pi's uncle, will make him believe in God. This story follows teenage Pi (Suraj Sharma) as he travels by ship with his zookeeping family from India to Canada, where they are promised a better market for jobs. After a massive storm wipes out their ship, Pi is left only with a select group of animals, a lifeboat and the endless scope of the ocean. Now without mother, father or his brother, Pi must learn to survive not only the harrowing danger of the ocean, but also the ferocity of Richard Parker, his father's bengal tiger. But despite the danger and fear of the attempts at survival, Pi must learn to tame this wild tiger and find a way back to land. 

I, myself, am unfamiliar with the source material of Lee's Life of Pi. I am aware of the novel by Yann Martel, but have not yet read through it so my understanding of the concept behind Life of Pi was one of many poetic layers. Make no mistake, Lee's new film entry is never short of poetic nature, but his vision of Pi and his many life encounters create a wonderful, almost Forrest Gump-esque theme, where we meet many faces and watch situations unfold from the curiousity of this young boy. From the unproportionate man who taught Pi to swim to the beautiful girl Pi falls in love with, characters parade around the stories of Pi's childhood and allow to ooze with creativity and wonder. This creates an enjoyably light form of storytelling that sets up for the intensity and beauty that follows. Once Pi finds himself stranded with Richard Parker, things start cooking. Spending months out at sea causes Pi to reconsider everything he once believed, which is a great experience for the audience to watch this character lose himself to the perils of survival. It's not only in the character actions that keeps Life of Pi afloat. 

The sheer beauty of Life of Pi is the most noticeable factor in the film and without a doubt will be the water-cooler topic when discussing the film. The gorgeous shots of the open sky's relection on the clear ocean will take audience's breath away. At times, it seems as if Lee wasn't so much a filmmaker as he was a painter who gave his all for these 2 hours. Massive scopes of ocean shots, orange clouds on a blue sky or even fish who glow at night cause Life of Pi to become wonderful eye candy that cannot be matched for anyone in the family. Lee made an easy decision here by deciding to release the film in 3D, a rather unsurprising feat when one looks at the amount of 3D films released in a month. What a shock it is to see that some of the best use of 3D was captured by a first time 3D director. Anywhere from fish flying into the screen to S.O.S bottles floating in front of the screen allow Life of Pi's 3D to leap off the screen and project right in front of audiences. There is only one way to see Life of Pi and that is on the largest 3D screen you can find it on. 

Life of Pi will create two different types of reactions: Those who pass it off as weird storytelling that loses the attention of the audience with its' message and those who accept the beauty and charm of Lee's storytelling as his brand of filmmaking. As a part of the latter group, I am pleased to call Life of Pi one of the more beautiful films of the year and a wonderful return to form for director Ang Lee. So enjoy those turkey dinners, strap on those 3D glasses and enjoy. After all, what goes better with Thanksgiving dinner than Pi? 

Theatrical Images

Cover: 

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Slideshow: 

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