A spectacular film, Life of Pi is told in retrospect as the titular character, Piscine, tells his story to a journalist. As a young man he suffered a life changing event which found him adrift in a lifeboat with some animals from his father's zoo, a story which he explains to the journalist will make him believe in God.
I've not read the book, but I'm sure the screenplay didn't come easy, so credit is due to David Magee and Ang Lee for having the vision to bring it to the screen. More than anything it is a film with moments of sheer beauty, in a similar way to Into the Wild (2007); Claudio Miranda fully deserving the Academy Award for cinematography. It almost makes the leap to a work of art as 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) does, but isn't quite there. The kid Ayush Tandon is really very good considering it must have been him in front of a green screen for most of the shoot.
There were a few moments where a continuous shot would have been brilliant and to me, obvious; so their absence was a bit of a shame. Also the final "make you believe in God" bit, felt suddenly thrown in like it had been forgotten about. But these are only minor quibbles, overall the film is truly spectacular, visually stunning and completely engaging. I really wish I'd been able to see this on the big screen that it deserves. But, well, you know, that’s just, like, er, my opinion, man.
No comments:
Post a Comment