Life of Pi

I read Life of Pi a long time back and do not recall much of the story except that it was about a boy and a tiger that are adrift in the ocean after their ship sinks. What I do remember about the book is that I had great difficulty finishing it. There were parts of it, which were disgusting, and some explicit descriptions that had left me puky then. Anyway, the overall feeling I have carried of the book is that of revulsion.

The movie is nothing like that. It is beautifully made and each frame is breathtaking. Any signs of revulsion are completely photoshopped out. You wonder what happens to the dead bodies of the zebra, the heyna and the orangutan? How does the boat remain clean and not stink up with their remains? I think these details add reality to the story. But you are given glassy still waters, skies awash with stars, sea life that is neon lit and surprises that will take your breath away. It's a National Geographic magazine story come to life.

The emotional life of Pi as he grapples with death staring him in the face, either from getting killed by the tiger or by starvation or dehydration is handled with a wry sense of humour by the character. Suraj Sharma who debuts with this film is not bad as Pi and the CGI tiger Richard Parker has a humanity which is quite unnerving as it is endearing.

I would have liked the movie to engage me more on an emotional level. Pi's relationship with God and how he deals with his experience is brought out by Irrfan Khan perfectly in the last scene. That one scene from him brings the story closure and shows us yet again what a fine actor he is.

Pi is definitely worth a watch for the visual beauty alone. I have never seen better use of 3D before and suspect it will be a while before another movie comes along to match the spectacualr spectacle that this one provides.

I suppose it is completely different from the book, since my reactions to the two narrations are so radically different but I am glad for it. The visuals from this film will stay with you a long time and refresh you on days when your world seems mundane and boring. Watch it.

Life of Pi is hardly the emotional tour de force it was made out to be. At the end of it, I was more puzzled by its bluntness in delivering the "message". The film's religious undertones, or in this case, not-so-under tones, had me wishing it were a little more subtle. There are too many in-your-face moments. No, the 3D is fine. I'm referring to conversations where subtlety is dispensed in favor of obviousness. For instance, there's this deeply thought provoking moment which had me thinking how differently we react to the deaths of an Orangutan and that of a fish, which got ruined with Pi saying,"Thank you Vishnu for coming to us in the form of this fish."

In the house of faith, I live on the second floor in the room of doubt. I totally understand the necessity of having something to unconditionally believe in. Religion is a very good concept when looked upon as a way of life more than anything else. But it is imperative for followers to not be a sponge and absorb every last bit of nonsense. Talking about faith in a higher authority is never easy and trying to put the various faiths into a context and giving each its own share of space and reverence is some task. I am not able to make up my mind as to whether the film is philosophically ambitious or pretending to be one, hiding behind the skirt of dazzling pictures.

More than anything, Life of Pi reminded me of Tim Burton's fantastic Big Fish. Pi is a fantasy film which asks you to believe. Not just believe it within the framework of a movie, but believe miracles can happen in the world we belong in. For me, the question is not whether I choose to believe. My problem is Pi bites more than it can chew. The things which happen over the course of 227 days may be hard to believe. But, if I say I do, what does it amount to? Does dressing a gritty cut-throat story in fantasy make it all the more believable? Is reality harder to digest? The concept of religion itself wouldn't exist were it more rationalized? We need the fantasy. We want the enigma. We pretend we want to know the answers, but we are only too happy to live the puzzle. Maybe we can't handle the truth. Maybe I have no idea what I am talking about.

I have always had trouble watching Indian actors in Hollywood films. They have this language handicap which I expect them to overcome in order to impress me. That happens very occasionally, and only in few select scenes when it does. Suraj Sharma, who plays Pi Patel, is uneven and there were moments where I wished Lee had dealt in silences. But full marks for his physical acting. I cannot imagine how tiring the whole task was. Irrfan Khan is good as the older Pi. I often saw shades of Irrfan in Suraj; or it could have been the other way round, I am not sure. The film's best performance, though, is given by a computer generated Tiger.

A fellow reviewer had noted how it doesn't take one to believe in God to admire Life of Pi and how belief in Cinema would alone suffice.Well, the film sure is a towering achievement bringing to life a vision so unique. But the "message" may not be to everyone's liking. You can try to ignore it but it is present everywhere you look. The life lessons Pi gets as a kid from his Mother and Father, his subsequent loss of innocence come to play a role in his ordeal, but his journey of a lifetime felt too convenient. If I try to keep myself content with the tale of undying human spirit conquering all odds, I still have a better option in Cast Away to turn to. I never really felt compelled to root for Pi. Nothing soared anywhere inside me when his feet touched solid ground. Nothing really changed. A copy of Life of Pi will be a value addition to your bluray collection, giving your Avatar copy some much needed rest. That's all there is to it.

When I read the book, I understood why Life of Pi was pronounced unfilmable. Most of the plot revolves around a boy and a tiger on a boat. This is one of those cases where most would say “nothing happens”. This story which isn't blatantly cinematic didn't exactly have a formula for a great film. Its production was also jinxed as it changed directors from M. Night Shyamalan to Jean Pierre-Jeunet, an Indian-American and a Frenchman. These choices made sense since the book was written by a French-Canadian but set in the Indian backdrop. Finally, the job was handed over to Ang Lee who is neither French nor Indian. This told me how judgments could really throw you off sometimes and prevent you from discovering beauty. Lee takes on this crouching tiger and truly gives us a hidden dragon. He has always been expert at subtle drama and handling unspoken/ unfulfilled relationships with poignancy. It all ultimately fits. I would even go as far as saying the book was waiting to be filmed by him. Nobody else could have made it.

Visually, the film is unlike anything your eyes have seen before. It is just utterly magnificent. Avatar (2009), Hugo (2011), The Adventures of Tintin (2011), Prometheus (2012) and now Life of Pi. Few films have exhibited actual use 3D and not thanklessly indulge in shoddy gimmickry. The images composed are so strikingly rich and alive that it would work even without 3D. There would be at least 10 instances where my mouth opened and I couldn't bring myself to let out a gasp since I was choked with amazement.

As most fables do, they transport you into a fantastical world while being an allegory on life. I personally love the character of Pi. He is relentless, a child of god who never ceases to give up hope. There is another character you take home with you: Richard Parker, the Royal Bengal Tiger. He isn't a cute dog that everybody in the audience falls for but a fearsome presence like King Kong. There are other wondrous creatures like a bioluminescent whale, an island swarming with meerkats and flying dorados. Magic realism on film has never been this good.

Suraj Sharma is soulful as Pi. I wouldn't be surprised if he goes onto become a Hollywood movie star like Freida Pinto. Although, the performance that blew me away was that of Irrfan Khan as the older Pi. In the scene where he talks about Richard Parker, two teardrops from his eyes moved me ever so deeply. The film will be getting several nominations at the Oscars, including the big ones. But if there is any justice in Hollywood (which there isn't, as we know), Irrfan Khan should be on his way to getting an Oscar nomination for supporting actor.

Mychael Danna's music is simply unbelievable. He uses Indian flutes, French accordions along with classical western violins. Pi's Lullaby (in Tamil) is achingly beautiful and it is accompanied with a gorgeous credits sequence that will make A. R. Rahman sit up with envy.

I was a bit concerned about a few sub-plots in the novel and especially the preface which deals with Yann Martel talking about how he came to write this story. This preface is now a sub-plot in the film as Pi gives the story to the writer and tells him to do whatever he wants with it. That writer is Ang Lee who has taken Martel's story and improved upon it. He squeezes out certain moments from the source material and gives it a new life. The ending of the film is classic Ang Lee and stands tall as one of his best closing moments alongside Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), Brokeback Mountain (2005) and Lust, Caution (2007). It is safe to say he is one of those few filmmakers who can film any story of any genre and still make it better than the genre's luminaries. He is one of cinema's modern masters.

The question everybody will come out with after watching the film is whether it was real or not? I don't wish to go into this at all as I wholeheartedly believe Pi's tale without a single speck of doubt (I find it easier to believe than many films based on true stories). It isn't exactly believable how Sense and Sensibility, a Jane Austen novel that was fundamentally British was also perfectly filmed, not by a Briton, but by a Taiwanese filmmaker. It may seem far-fetched but it's the truth. Truth cannot be truth if it only comes out of knowledge and not experience. Life of Pi is that transcendental experience. There are many who will have issues with the film's thematic elements. Believe in god or not, but if you believe in cinema, you will surely be blessed with a gift. The word I would use to concisely describe Life of Pi is: “beautiful”. This is most definitely one of my most favorite films of the year.

After surviving 227 days afloat on an 8-foot boat in the sole company of a 400-pound Royal Bengal tiger in the merciless pith of the Pacific Ocean, you may come to the conclusion that Pi aka Piscine Patel realized the existence of God. But, in reality, on this journey of self-exploration, Pi only found answers to some questions rooted deep within him that in turn helped him to understand God and his actions. Lee's adaption of Martel's original goes unhampered in a visually powerful and enjoyable film.

When a Japanese ship sinks in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, it leaves a Zebra, a Hyena, an Orangutan, a Royal Bengal tiger named Richard Parker and a 16-year old vegetarian boy named Pi Patel stranded on a life boat to fight for survival. As Pi sees each of his companions getting killed and eaten by each other, he's left all alone with the tiger to learn life's most important lessons and find out if they can mutually co-exist in a world created by God.

Though one aspect of the film harps on the message that when all else fails, one needs to surrender to God and make him our own, the other aspect of the narrative subtly throws focus on the sagacious relationship between Pi and Parker. Most of the running time, stretched but not boring, involves scenes between Pi and the tiger, which happens to be digitally created, is difficult to believe. At the end of their journey, when Pi reminisces his days with Richard, he not only appreciates life but comes to learn that God was all along with him on the voyage in the form of Richard Parker.

Lee holds the attention of the audience with larger-than-life technical brilliance. The work of VFX artistes catapults the film to greater heights, and sometimes even higher than Cameron's “Avatar”. To keep the audience hooked visually is an art, and Lee has mastered it with the help of 3D, which certainly comes as a blessing in this film. You gaze in wonderment at some of the best, visually arresting scenes. Roughly, for about 100 minutes or even more, Lee makes you sail with Pi and Richard on a life boat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The turbulence of the thunder storm, mighty leap of a whale, night sky filled with stars over still ocean, or even some of the best shots focusing on the boat from different sides, makes for one of the best visual experiences ever that you definitely don't want to miss.

Maggie Lee has handled the screenplay adeptly with special focus on building the strong premise of the film quite early on. Scenes in Pondicherry, especially those between Pi and his father about the difference between humans and animal pave way to deeper realization of life later on in the film. Be it the subtle romance between Suraj and Shravanthi, or Pi's relentless effort to understand religion, all credit goes to Maggie for not making everything too obvious, but allowing it gradually play with psyche of the viewers.

Suraj Sharma steals the thunder hands down in a performance that'll push you to the edge of your seat, while Irrfan as the narrator and older Pi breathes life into the film. I only wish he had dropped his accent. Tabu as the mother delivers a striking performance, but it's the father played by Adil Hussain, with his life's important teachings', struggling to imbibe the same into his children, qualifies as the next best to Suraj.

In essence; “Life of Pi” is a visually enthralling spiritual saga

With Life of Pi the book by Yann Martel, director Ang Lee was stuck with a story that is for most part about a teenaged boy alone on a boat with a tiger in the middle of the pacific ocean and a subject material that had immense allegroical allusions to religion and God- in short, a book that was unfilmable. With the movie however, Lee has managed to create a visual poetry the subtly packs a huge punch.

Pi is crossing the pacific with his parents and the animals of the zoo his family owned in Pondichery, when a storm sinks the Japenese liner he was in and leaves him with a zebra, hyena an orangutang and a royal bengal tiger in a life boat in the middle of nowhere. Soon enough, it is just the tiger and him for a good 227 days till they manage to reach the shores of Mexico. The film is the incredulous story of the boys survival through days of unimaginable suffering.

Martel's book is a convulated and layered narrative that borders on magic realism and fuses it with the metaphysical concepts of faith and a higher power guiding lifeon earth. The story is interspread with beautiful descriptions of wildlife and oceanic beauty that Lee and team manage to brilliantly recreate on screen.

In what is perhaps the best use of 3D technology in cinema's history- at times better than Avatar- Life of Pi uses scenic beauty and picture perfect imagery to create a sense of depth and space. Unlike Avatar that opted for in-your-face 3D imagery, Lee uses vivid colors, smooth seamless cuts and long shots to create a haunting visual melody. The standard 3D thrills like the ocean storms or the tiger leaping on to the face from the screen notwithstanding, the technology is a subtle companion throughout. The screen comes alive when the bioluminiscent ocean takes over and all you can do is let your jaw drop at the brilliance on display.

There are portions in the film that one wishes could just be framed for eternity, the sky reflected in the still oceans surface with Pi and his boat on it, or the magnificent carnivorous island where Pi takes a brief detour, Lee recreates the books magic realism with a conviction that is rarely seen on screen.

The middle part of the story works as a humorous take on survival on the sea and taming of the beast, as Pi manages to co exist with a hungry tiger in the middle of nowhere. A taut introduction to the story in the frist half hour mercifully ends to plunge you to a plane where immersion into the surreal is complete without loosing track of the story ,only to know in the end that all of it was in fact just that, a story.

For all its brilliance, Life of Pi is not flawless- the sense of grotesque survival and the urgency of hanging on to life that the book beautifully conveyed is missing in Lee's narrative that is more in awe of the beauty anf majesty of nature and its creations. The main theme of faith and belief that the film espouses repeats itself more than one would want to and can get a little tiring at one point. For all the storms in the movie, the story flows like a gentle calm stream , making even the severest of oceanic storms look melodious making one wish for a little more gritty tension in the narrative. '

Yet, Life of Pi is a marvellous attempt at story telling that is not just a film but an experience in itself. It tells a tale of survival and instinct with a profound spirituality that is bound to touch the soul. Watch this one in 3D, you have never watched anything like this before.