Life of Pi
November 26, 2012
4 stars out 5
Could it possibly be a trend: Hollywood making movies that are completely original, almost impossible to describe on the back of a business card, that appeal to adults? I hope this film does well, to encourage others like it to come. I have not read Yann Martel's book, but director Ang Lee and screenwriter David Magee have created a visually spectacular and intellectually interesting world. And I did the research so you don't have to: although the tiger was based on four real tigers who were "reference models," he wasn't real. The film asks more questions than it answers, and its answers aren't always fully satisfying, but it makes you think and stays with you. Fifty years on, I couldn't possibly tell you the plot of Dr. No, or tell you the difference between Thunderball and On Her Majesty's Secret Service," but I will long remember this simple tale of a young man, stranded at sea, struggling to understand the meaning of life as he did on shore. Suraj Sharma is amazing as young Pi; Irrfan Khan is perfectly serviceable as the adult Pi. The ironclad rule of Hollywood is "show us don't tell us." This film does that, despite breaking the other ironclad Hollywood rule: narration is the last refuge of the lazy writer. Here it adds, rather than detracts, from the story telling.
Could it possibly be a trend: Hollywood making movies that are completely original, almost impossible to describe on the back of a business card, that appeal to adults? I hope this film does well, to encourage others like it to come. I have not read Yann Martel's book, but director Ang Lee and screenwriter David Magee have created a visually spectacular and intellectually interesting world. And I did the research so you don't have to: although the tiger was based on four real tigers who were "reference models," he wasn't real. The film asks more questions than it answers, and its answers aren't always fully satisfying, but it makes you think and stays with you. Fifty years on, I couldn't possibly tell you the plot of Dr. No, or tell you the difference between Thunderball and On Her Majesty's Secret Service," but I will long remember this simple tale of a young man, stranded at sea, struggling to understand the meaning of life as he did on shore. Suraj Sharma is amazing as young Pi; Irrfan Khan is perfectly serviceable as the adult Pi. The ironclad rule of Hollywood is "show us don't tell us." This film does that, despite breaking the other ironclad Hollywood rule: narration is the last refuge of the lazy writer. Here it adds, rather than detracts, from the story telling.