Director Ang Lee’s greatest achievement in filming Life of Pi is the transcendental usage of visual imagery that makes this version of the classical novel a masterpiece. The film is shot with such impeccable flair for the visual aspects of storytelling that we are left in awe of Lee’s capabilities as a director. Not since Avatar have 3D effects been used so well, and 3D has never been so integrated into the story as it is here. The metaphorical and at times allegorical nature of the novel has been translated into the spheres of cinema with tremendous talent, with fantastic cinematography complementing Lee’s direction.
The film opens in Pondichery, India, where a boy named Piscine (nicknamed “Pi”) lives in a zoo that his father runs. After the zoo loses its state funding and eventually closes, Pi’s father decides to move the family to Canada, packing even the animals onto a cargo ship and setting off across the Pacific. Not long after passing Indonesia, the small ship comes into a spectacular storm and after a masterfully shot scene of disaster, Pi is the sole survivor of ship. He drifts in a lifeboat alone, kept company only by a zebra, an orangutan, a hyena, and the zoo’s powerful and beautiful Bengal tiger, named Richard Parker through a clerical error.
After only a couple of days at sea, the hyena has eaten the other two animals, and then Richard Parker kills the hyena. This leaves Pi alone in the lifeboat with the tiger for 227 days at sea. With flash-forwards to present day Montreal, the film tells Pi’s adventure with strong allegorical and metaphorical influences. Pi’s journey is one of inspiration led by self-reflection. He finds a little bit of himself in Richard Parker, and so abandoned in a lifeboat together Pi slowly trains the tiger and learns to live alongside the beautiful beast.
The film opens in Pondichery, India, where a boy named Piscine (nicknamed “Pi”) lives in a zoo that his father runs. After the zoo loses its state funding and eventually closes, Pi’s father decides to move the family to Canada, packing even the animals onto a cargo ship and setting off across the Pacific. Not long after passing Indonesia, the small ship comes into a spectacular storm and after a masterfully shot scene of disaster, Pi is the sole survivor of ship. He drifts in a lifeboat alone, kept company only by a zebra, an orangutan, a hyena, and the zoo’s powerful and beautiful Bengal tiger, named Richard Parker through a clerical error.
After only a couple of days at sea, the hyena has eaten the other two animals, and then Richard Parker kills the hyena. This leaves Pi alone in the lifeboat with the tiger for 227 days at sea. With flash-forwards to present day Montreal, the film tells Pi’s adventure with strong allegorical and metaphorical influences. Pi’s journey is one of inspiration led by self-reflection. He finds a little bit of himself in Richard Parker, and so abandoned in a lifeboat together Pi slowly trains the tiger and learns to live alongside the beautiful beast.
Ang Lee and cinematographer Claudio Miranda have composed a film so visually stunning that each frame is full of bright new potential to reflect upon. The highly visual nature of this film allows for the metaphors of Pi’s journey to be thrust into light, to be mulled over by the audience afterwards. Pi begins his epic adventure with Richard Parker after a horrific shipwreck – one of the greatest filmed scenes of the year I may add – and along the way we are blessed with Ang Lee showing us Pi’s days at sea. Never before in film has the ocean looked so large, so deep, so full of life. The frames are all saturated with color and utilize the 3D technology in a unique way that only someone like Ang Lee would have been able to master so effectively.
While originally thought to be an ‘un-filmable’ novel, Ang Lee and his cast and crew have crafted a beautiful piece of work with Life of Pi. The acting is successful and emotive, and the soundtrack has been eloquently assembled by Golden Globe winner Mychael Danna. With emphasis on visual spectacle, Life of Pi is surprisingly charming and another wonderful feature by filmmaker Ang Lee.
While originally thought to be an ‘un-filmable’ novel, Ang Lee and his cast and crew have crafted a beautiful piece of work with Life of Pi. The acting is successful and emotive, and the soundtrack has been eloquently assembled by Golden Globe winner Mychael Danna. With emphasis on visual spectacle, Life of Pi is surprisingly charming and another wonderful feature by filmmaker Ang Lee.