There's so much to talk about with regard to Life of Pi - its ideas about religion and faith, its concepts about the appeal of storytelling, its riveting plot - that it's sometimes easy to overlook the fact that it's a majestic, astonishing piece of cinema. LIfe of Pi has been floating around Hollywood for some time before coming to director Ang Lee, but it was worth the wait; it's hard to imagine a better version of the film than this jaw-droppingly beautiful, astonishingly composed work of storytelling. Life of Pi presents any number of challenges for someone wanting to film it, not the least of which is that the majority of the story involves nothing more than a young man adrift on the endless ocean with nothing else to see - oh, except for the tiger living on his lifeboat with him. But Lee manages to find new and beautiful ways to shoot the story so that it never feels repetitive or redundant; indeed, what results are some of the most beautiful images I've seen in a cinema in a long time. More than that, Lee uses 3D in beautiful, magical ways, from playing with your perceptions about which side of the water you're on to creating the illusion that the boat is floating in a massive void. All of that is incredible, to be sure, and it's all part of what makes Life of Pisuch a masterpiece. But if the film didn't work as a story - and more importantly, as an exploration of its ideas and themes - none of that would matter. However, it does, and then some. Lee interweaves the story's thoughts about faith, religion, storytelling, doubt, and fear inextricably to the material, bringing out all of the complexity of the seemingly simple tale while never detracting from the impact of what you're watching. And have no doubt about it - it's an incredibly vivid tale, one that had my wife as tense and unnerved as I've ever seen in her in a movie, and one that had us both moved as it spun out its final revelations. Life of Pi is one of the most superb pieces of pure cinema that I've seen this year; it succeeds with its visuals, its plot, its ideas, its acting, and its themes, and it does it all while telling a visceral and thrilling tale. It's a masterpiece, plain and simple, and if you love film, you owe it to yourself to make the time to go see it.


- Josh Mauthe

Life of Pi is beautiful.

Writing a review for a movie that had a genuine impact on you is a challenge.  It's easy to talk about films when you have something easy to compare them to, or when you're breaking them down to their individual components. And, to be fair, you can do exactly that with Life of Pi. 

Visually? It's a masterpiece. Ang Lee clearly held a tight rein on every frame, selecting colors, camera angles, and even the use of 3D to frame precisely the tone and atmosphere that he wanted.  A spectacle on par with Avatar at its best, Life of Pi tells much of the story through beautiful set pieces and a carefully managed use of color, particularly in the portrayal of Pi's terrifying and riveting shipmate.

Acting? A film that has a single human character occupying the screen alone  for its majority will live and die by the lead actor's performance, and Suraj Sharma manages to capture a sense of hope and despair in a perfect balance. This is a deeply personal story, and Sharma carries it with the skill of a much more experienced actor.  

Script? The adaptation of Yann Martel's bestselling and acclaimed novel manages to streamline the story to avoid a loss of pacing while keeping all the aspects that make the story what it is: a tale of spirituality and belief wrapped in a modern-day fable. In a year that has seen some remarkably ambitious adaptations, Life of Pi stands out as the highlight.

I could continue with special effects, cinematography, editing and more, all of which are excellent.  But Life of Pi is a difficult one for me to break apart, in no small part because of the fact that the whole is so much greater than the sum of its extraordinary parts.  It took me a while to even be able to really talk about it. Life of Pi has that particular kind of magic that only the finest films achieve, and breaking it down into components to analyze and discuss felt like it would break the spell.  Simply put, it's a remarkable experience, a film that uses the best of what filmmaking has to offer to present a story that is exhilarating and heartbreaking, and most of all, beautiful.