The Library Police
  • Home
  • The Library Police Podcast
    • Episode 240: How We've Grown As Readers
    • Episode 239: Saladin Ahmed's Black Bolt
    • Episode 238: A Hannibal Playlist
    • Episode 237: The Mini-Primers
    • Episode 236: Revenge of the MiniTopics
    • Episode 235: Flawed Books That We Love
    • Episode 234: Expectations and Entitlement
    • Episode 233: The Literary Canon
    • Episode 232: Playlist - The Marvel Cinematic Universe
    • Episode 231: The Perfect Nanny
    • Episode 230: SciFi V. Fantasy
    • Episode 229: Playlist - Legion
    • Episode 228: Playlist - The Americans
    • Episode 227: Should you read YA Fiction?
    • Episode 226: The Dark Tower, Books 5-7
    • Episode 224: Media for Non-Readers
    • Episode 223: Getting Into A Reading Groove
    • Episode 222: 2017 Gift Guide
    • Episode 221: The Dark Tower, Books 1-4
    • Thanksgiving Throwback: Episode 128, Featuring Christopher Merchant
    • Episode 220: The Taboo Topics
    • Episode 219: SCBWI 2017
    • Episode 218: Classics Vs. Modern
    • Episode 217: A Primer for Thrillers
    • Episode 216: The Adventure Zone Balance Arc
    • Episode 215: Young Adult Fight
    • Episode 214: What Does An Author Owe You
    • Episode 213: Adaptations
    • Episode 212: Beach Reading
    • Episode 211: Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
    • Episode 210: Interactive Storytelling
    • Episode 209: Audiobooks and Audio Storytelling
  • Features
    • Where Everyone Has Gone Before
    • Top Twenty Board Games of All Time
    • The Joy of Desperation
    • Prometheus: A Debate
    • Dude Writes Like A Lady
  • Reviews
    • Book Reviews
    • Film Reviews
    • Television Reviews
  • Interviews
    • Kristin O'Donnell Tubb
    • Katie McGarry
    • Gennifer Choldenko
    • Donald Bain
    • Logan L. Masterson
    • Catriona McPherson
    • Graham Brown
    • F. Paul Wilson
    • Will Lavender
    • Jeffery Deaver
    • Peter Straub
    • Dr. Bill Bass
    • Bruce DeSilva
    • D. Alan Lewis
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Forums

Life of Pi

11/28/2012

1 Comment

 
Picture
5 out of 5
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. 

1 Comment
Kevin Glenn
11/30/2012 11:13:08 pm

Your mother and I saw this movie yesterday afternoon. Wow, what an experience! Your review of this masterpiece is spot on. Well done, son.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.