Life of Pi.

Review #1564: Life of Pi.

Cast:
Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Ayush Tandon & Gautam Belur (Piscine "Pi" Patel - age 16-17, adult, age 11-12, age 5), Rafe Spall (The Writer), Tabu (Gita Patel), Adil Hussain (Santosh Patel), Ayaan Khan, Mohamed Abbas Khaleeli & Vibish Sivakumar (Ravi Patel - age 7, 13-14, and 18-19), Gérard Depardieu (The Cook), Wang Po-chieh (Sailor), Jag Huang (Sailor), Andrea Di Stefano (The Priest), Shravanthi Sainath & Mythili Prakash (Anandi - age 17 and adult), and Raj Patel (Ravi) Directed by Ang Lee (#1525 - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)

Review:
"I thought this was a pretty impossible movie to make technically. It's so expensive for what it is. You sort of have to disguise a philosophical book as an adventure story. I thought of 3-D half a year before 'Avatar' was on the screen. I thought water, with its transparency and reflection, the way it comes out to you in 3-D, would create a new theatrical experience and maybe the audience or the studio would open up their minds a little bit to accept something different."

This is the 12th feature film of Ang Lee, who certainly could be found doing distinct experiences that captivate an audience with distinct layers, whether that involved his Taiwanese "Father Knows Best" trilogy or the wuxia classic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) or varying levels of Hollywood filmmaking in dramas like Brokeback Mountain (2005) or Lust, Caution (2007), with this also happening to serve as an adaptation of a previous work. This is based on the 2001 novel of the same name by Yann Martel (a Canadian author of French Canadian descent), one that he stated was important in finding direction in his life (which he once described as equally being not finite like pi) that dealt with faith within a tale involving man and tiger together on a lifeboat for several months together; David Magee served as the writer to bring the novel onto the screen. There had been plans to develop the novel into a feature for nearly a decade, with directors such as M. Night Shyamalan and Jean-Pierre Jeunet thought at separate times to direct the film before Lee was brought in to do the film, and he found it suitable to direct the film in 3-D with the fact that most of it would take place in water that could help in reaching audiences by disguising philosophy into an adventure story. The effects sure help in that regard, in the sense that one could probably believe there really was a tiger on a boat with someone in the ocean (imagine the film in any different time and there might be a big pane of glass between them), complete with a big water tank on a soundstage. Rhythm & Hues Studios (R&H) surely did a well-done achievement for themselves and certain members of their crew, although an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects did not help the crew from being let go when the company filed for bankruptcy after the release of the film (as is the case with such competition around the world for generating visual effects for films that desire it).

At any rate, I was fine with the film. It isn't too much of a shaggy tiger story, mostly because it does try to make a case for itself in inspiration with the human spirit in devotion beyond oneself, storytelling, and beyond. Whether the film achieves that is up to the viewer in how much ultimately resonates with them in the end, particularly with its last little turn of the screw after the climax involving the story as a whole (ambiguity can only go so far when we are talking man vs. nature). There are three distinct parts of the film that work differently in effectiveness in building itself to usefulness within something wrangled in spectacle and thoughts about what makes a person who they are in nature with belief and survival. To some it could provide a building block towards understanding said beliefs and the will of higher power, while others might just see it as Cast Away (2000) on the sea. At least there isn't a sense of preening on the pulpit to the choir because one could wonder themselves about how they would be when faced with immeasurable tests of oneself or when faced with the company of the wilderness - this is likely the most strange time in life to think about a film that makes you face the facts of life with only yourself to reflect upon for 127 minutes, really. One starts with the initial set-up duo between distinguished Hindi/British/American cinema presence in Khan, who is useful for what is needed in careful story settling to go with a useful bounce-off man in curiosity - in other words, good folks to follow with storytelling. Sharma proves dutiful as the man for oneself, generating interest in self-growth and curiosity in solitude with a tank of water and surrounding effects that runs the gamut in fear and search for enrichment that is worthwhile for those who follow into it. Others do fine in small presence, such as with Tabu and Hussain in useful parental influences. In any case, the star of the show is what the effects can provide with intrigue to go with a mostly effective story in finding one's persistence in spirit for life that works for those who enjoy said goals without finding it overextended or vague in its lasting words about deciding between reality and what is not in terms of truth, perception and belief that Martel found suitable that makes this a fair achievement in Lee's career.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.