Life of Pi

Technology at its best: A visual bliss!

 

Ang Lee’s Life of Pi, an adventure film based on Yann Martel’s novel of the same title is one of its own kind movies, with a thorough visual bliss!

                It is a story of Piscine, a boy named from a Parisian swimming pool, and self nicknamed as Pi, inhabiting in Pondicherry with a family that owns a zoo. The family soon starts sailing to Canada in plans to shift home, with a host of exotic animals, where a storm shipwrecks them leaving behind Pi and a Bengal Tiger as survivors in the Pacific Ocean. Screenplay runs in flashbacks as Pi, now older, narrates his life since childhood and the deadly ocean adventure he had once been through.

                The film deals with multiple themes including the religion-spirituality Vs logic-reality conflict, belief in God and then the grand ocean adventure. Now the most amazing part of the story is the survival strategies applied by Pi, not just against beating the difficulties of living in the ocean, but the mere effort of a boy to co-exist with an adult Bengal Tiger without becoming the tiger’s meal himself, for over 227 days. As fictional as this situation may sound, the survival of Pi and the tiger seems compellingly believable. The story ends abruptly though,leaving the viewer to expect something more to come but all he gets is the end credits. Ang Lee fails to add the emotional quotient that the theme demands, hence film falls just short of touching your heart, and instead leaves with just the visual pleasure.

 

            As mentioned above, the screenplay runs into flashbacks, is smooth and is just as it should have been. Make sure not to miss the introduction song where the animals of the zoo are well framed and to watch for. The Pondicherry scenes are a novelty, the swimming pool of Paris with its crystal clear water (literally), the ocean at night with coloured fish and stars are totally fascinating. These are just a handful of examples of the film’s visual brilliance; watch the film for a flood of such scenes. This is a film where the cinematography and camera are at their level best! They are easily the film’s biggest highlight. Another highlight is the make-up. Red and dark skin, marks of Ocean sickness on the boy’s body look so real that it almost gives you a feel of how it would be like there in the ocean. Music is suitable for the theme.

Instances of visual brilliance



 

 

 

              Amongst the actors, debutant Suraj Sharma as the young Pi is perfect for the role. Irfan Khan as the older Pi looks convincingly similar to Suraj Sharma and is well cast, but that bizarre accent!! The tiger and other animals, partly animated, are amusing and amazing and examples of what a spectacular job technology can do today. Adil Hussain is particularly impressive in short role of Pi’s adamant yet caring father and Tabu too is well cast as Pi’s mother, but she doesn’t have much to do.

                In the end, as mentioned repeatedly, Life of Pi, serves as a spectacle than just a film. The visual brilliance compensates for its little flaws and makes it a kind of a film that hasn’t been made before.

                In spite of having watched it on the front row, Life of Pi didn’t disappoint visually. This movie is most certainly the best 3D experience produced till date. To enhance the quality of the experience, make sure to watch it 'only' in 3D, and at a place where 3D is supposedly the best. For viewers in India, PVR would be a good option(We do not endorse any brands here).

 

Ang Lee’s Life of Pi gets a 3.5 out of 5 simply for how the film looks on the screen rather than for what the film talks about. Not many films get a high rating for just being an eye candy, Life of Pi is one of the very few. Go watch it, it can disappoint nobody.