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.
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.
