Nov 25: Life of Pi

"A young man who survives a disaster at sea is hurtled into an epic journey of adventure and discovery. While cast away, he forms an unexpected connection with another survivor ... a fearsome Bengal tiger."

Directed by: Ang Lee, Rated: PG, 127 minutes

Ang Lee has proven time after time that he's a master storyteller. Luckily for us, he is also just as incredible with a camera, and manages to bring each of his stories to life in the most beautiful ways possible. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is the film that put him on the map and a fine example of his ability to blend the dramatic and beautiful. At first, you'd think it's just a run-of-the-mill kung fu movie with swords and what not, but its story is genuine, heart-breaking, and much more complex than what you'd expect. Then Lee decided to tackle a superhero with Hulk, a movie that was confused with itself and didn't know where to go. Even then, Lee managed to tell a very dramatic story (too dramatic for a superhero) and the look of the film was still superior to most. Then came his masterpiece in Brokeback Mountain, a movie that focused solely on the relationship between two lovers with a gorgeous backdrop of the American ranch lands. What easily could have been a disaster (and parodied to death), Lee turned into something more beautiful than you could ever imagine. With this year's Life of Pi, Lee has elevated his talent to new levels, employing the use of 3D and a lot of special effects to get the job done. However, just like all of his other works, the beautiful imagery plays second fiddle to the story at the heart of the film.

Pi Patel (Suraj Sharma) is a young man from Pondicherry, India who is book smart (school is boring to him) and curious about every kind of religion. He tastes each faith, looking for his favorite flavor and becomes a very well-rounded individual over time. He's not above you or me, but he's very in touch with God(s) and never loses his faith. When his family decides to move to Canada, they board a freighter carrying all of the animals from the zoo they owned, including a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker (his name was a clerical error). On its way across the Pacific, the freighter capsizes and poor Pi is left alone in a lifeboat with Richard Parker and must figure out a way to keep the beast at bay and find rescue. What unfolds is an incredible story of survival, religion, love, and the beauty and dangers of nature as well as all of creation. It's much more complex than your ordinary survival tale, but is also quite simple in the ideas behind it.

First-time actor, Suraj Sharma gives one of the better debut performances I have ever seen. He's a young man that's tested over and over again, by his family, by nature, and even the God(s) he so adores. Yet, he never gives up faith and realizes that everything happens for a reason and that he needs to accept it no matter what. Life of Pi manages to be a story about faith without ever feeling like it's forcing its ideas or beliefs in any direction. It's a simple story about a man never giving up, and the source of his hope just happens to be rooted in Catholicism, Hinduism, Islam, and even a bit of Judaism. You don't need to understand any of the faiths to understand it's the driving force behind every aspect of Pi's life. Sharma manages to convey a real balance between conviction and naivety and in his actions he's never arrogant or self-righteous. He's just like anyone would be in his situation- scared, alone, and even more frustrated with his situation but manages to pull himself together to get things done, be smart about it, and survive. With Sharma on the screen for the majority of the film, he needs to be something special, and it goes without saying that he deserves a nomination for Best Actor.

Pi is a boy transformed by a tragedy and Sharma is compelling in the transition from boy to man. 

The story of Life of Pi jumps between present time (where Pi is played by Irrfan Khan), Pi's childhood, and the time he spent on the lifeboat. Even though we know that Pi survives and that his older self is the one telling the audience the story, we still fear for the boy. Danger is constantly biting at his heels, either from the harsh weather of open waters or from his partner in surviving, Richard Parker. Many bits of discussion leading up to this film was the fact that the largest part of the story, a tiger and a boy co-existing on a lifeboat, would be damn near impossible to film, at least convincingly. However, Ang Lee utilizes breath-taking special effects and visuals to not only create a real, breathing Bengal tiger, but craft beautiful paintings around the two characters for the entire film. Richard Parker never feels like an animated animal that is added to the screen to fit the story, but he becomes a real character with his own personality and even his own fears. He's the supporting cast to Sharma's titular character. Along with the tiger, the rest of the film is packed full of imagery and visuals you could only dream of. As I stated, the entire movie feels like a series of paintings and, as the audience, we're walking through the gallery as an even more beautiful story is told. Our souls, our minds, and our eyes are all gifted with amazing pictures and words and the entire film will leave you in awe. Unlike films like Avatar or Transformers, where the visuals tell the story, Life of Pi utilizes the special effects to only give a grander scale to what's unfolding on screen. Even without the imagery Life of Pi would be successful, so all the beauty we see only accentuates the story, never taking away from it.

Seriously, the entire movie looks like this and it's breath-taking. 

On a technical aspect, Life of Pi is extraordinary. It's a beauty to behold and humbles you in a way you wouldn't think a film would be able to do. It reminds you of how gorgeous nature can be and shows you that you can do a lot more with a camera than you could ever imagine. It takes you on a journey to a world you could only think of in your dreams and imagination, and then makes you realize it's that of the world we actually live in. Life of Pi is incredibly well acted and is as packed with as much emotion as possible in its 127 minute run-time. Luckily, the film never feels preachy and the delicate subject matter it treads upon is never ruined or disrespected. It raises a lot of questions about what you would not only do in a similar situation, but about how you live your life, your test of faith, and makes you value the things and people around you like never before. While it's not a life-changing experience, it's something that comes very close and shows us that there are unending stories to be told on an even more unending scale. Ang Lee presents us with a beautiful story with amazing special effects. The filmmaker takes us on a ride across oceans and existences and leaves us with the facts to decide on what to believe. 

The Good:

heart-wrenching emotion strewn with bits of humor that makes the film all the more human and relatable

The Better:

terrific visuals that make the film one of the most beautiful movies I have ever seen and completely redefine any expectations I have for 3D

The Best:

incredible performances from an entire cast of mostly unknowns, with an exceptional debut performance from Suraj Sharma and a terrific outing from the always amazing Irrfan Khan

The Oscar Chances:

Nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Sharma), Best Supporting Actor (Khan), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Visual Effects, and Best Cinematography

Overall: 9.4/10

Discussion Question:

Would you have the willpower and/or the faith to survive for so long?

Trailer:

Guest Review: Lincoln

When it comes to the 12:25 showing of Lincoln that I watched earlier today, I could rattle off a little grocery list of flaws about it, and maybe I still will a little bit later on. I could call it Oscar-Bait, roll my eyes and cross my arms. I could even claim that Daniel Day-Lewis isn’t human, and therefore should be disqualified from earning the Oscar for best actor this coming winter. Instead, I’ll go ahead and say this. Lincoln, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Daniel Day-Lewis, is the best movie I have seen all year.

I should establish something up front here. I was one of the disgruntled masses that saw the trailer for this movie and a huge exclamation point sprouted up over my head. I don’t know what it was about the trailer that bugged me. Maybe it was the cuts to black every half second, maybe it was the schizophrenic soundtrack that changed tone every time the scene changed. I don’t know. I think I was afraid of this movie being something like War Horse, and I’m pleased to say that it was anything but.

This is not acting. This is channeling.

Lincoln is a film about a country nearly as foreign to us in our contemporary situation as it was and is to a lot of other nationalities. Watching this movie as an American (and indeed, as an American currently serving in the armed forces) was nothing short of a revelation. It pitched itself as Oscar-Bait, which was a pretty dumb thing to do since it’s anything but. This film is an important one, and we know this by the time ten minutes of it have rolled around.

I think the biggest problem with this film is the trailer. You read that right. The trailer undersold this film. It seemed like a trailer for a different movie altogether - though if you asked me to figure exactly what kind of film the trailer was for, I'm not exactly sure. A cheesy one. Lincoln, on the other hand, felt more like a Broadway or West End play captured on film. Maybe that's because some of the lead actors (Daniel Day-Lewis and Jared Harris) are from the UK. Who knows.

I could write pages about Daniel Day-Lewis and his performance as America’s most beloved president. Instead, however, I’ll go ahead and relegate myself to saying this – watching this film, I felt like I was sitting in a room with Abraham Lincoln. I don’t know what crazy things Lewis did to prepare for this role, and frankly I don’t particularly care to know, because that would dispel at least part of the illusion. All I know is that his portrayal of Lincoln is something I was lucky to see. This Lincoln is kind, warm, comforting, polite, soft spoken, and perhaps most surprisingly – very, very funny.

Thank you. All of you.

I think part of what makes Lincoln the film that it is can be traced to the performances offered up by its wonderful cast. I usually hate films with ensemble casts, since most of the time they seem to mute each other out. (See The Thin Red Line for an example of this too-many-cooks-in-the-kitchen syndrome.) Lincoln somehow manages to dodge this plague, bringing in some of our finest thespians in roles that seem tailored to them. Tommy Lee Jones is at the absolute top of his game here, providing the audience with a figure we at once love and are wary of. Sally Field is wonderful (though sometimes seems a little strained) as Mrs. Lincoln, and Jared Harris is a walking embodiment of Ulysses Grant. Some have complained about his accent. I didn't notice.

I'm the one with the hair.

I was able to speak with some of my fellow audience members after this film let out and as a result got to canvas their reactions. Interestingly, we were all surprised by the same thing – this film is mostly talking, without much “happening” in the way of 21st Century Hollywood. I think a lot of people might find issue with this lack of action, but I found it refreshing. I was nice to see a film that relied purely on its writing, its photography and its acting to imbue it with a sense of importance. It was nice to see a period piece about an American icon that was so grounded in reality that when it did touch on the extraordinary circumstances surrounding him, the times felt real.

I’m no history buff, but I’ve done a fair bit of research in Abraham Lincoln, and while I cannot speak for the history professors at Columbia University, I can speak for myself – I thought this film did a great job of portraying Washington as it was in Lincoln’s day...and indeed, how it still is, in some ways. This look at government is beautiful because it shows us the humanity behind it, but also reminds us that government can and should work for the people – no matter how difficult the road to success can sometimes be.

That this film arrives at a time of such political discord is, I think, important. Movies like Lincoln are more than just your run of the mill popcorn fare. They are messages, a call to arms from another time, reminders that we, the American people (though young) have it in us both the capacity and the obligation to be strong. So much unhappiness today can be resolved by remembering our common identity – something I feel a lot of us have forgotten about. If you like history, if you adore film, if you love great actors performing tremendous roles – go see this movie. I for one will be returning to see it again, if only to spend time with that greatest of American heroes for just a couple hours more.

The Bottom Line: Poignant, important, relevant and fueled by a once-in-a-lifetime performance by Daniel Day Lewis (unless, of course, you’re Daniel Day Lewis and performances like this come around once every three years or so), Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln is worth every caricature-graced penny.

Oscar Possibilities:
Best Actor - Daniel Day-Lewis
Best Picture

Overall Rating: 9.8/10