Life of Pi, mi oh mi

Rating: 8/10 (27 December 2012)

Ang Lee's aesthetic masterpiece has one extraordinary ability: Life of Pi is a film of beautifully sustained momentum throughout. We are so gracefully paced through the narrative and immersed into the theatrical experience, despite the fact the events endured are not necessarily progressive. This is one of the few releases whereby the 3D is actually engaging, not distracting and aids in the artistic integrity of the picture.
This is storytelling! The majority of Life of Pi is presented in flashback form, often returning to the present to have our protagonist show his emotional reaction to the story of his own life. This works. The structural operation in effect in the film is fascinating. We ask questions; why does this one man's story matter? Did these events really happen to the character? What is the meaning of the story? To be brief, the climactic revelation that comfortably explains and answers our queries is so phenomenally crafted and logical that it renovates what was throughout, a seemingly good film, into one of 2012s most fantastic features.
Life of Pi is such a fragile picture that it almost is entitled to avoid negative criticism. Lee's piece is so wonderfully constructed that to say changes should be made is unquestionably difficult as, as the films stands, it is near flawless. Nonetheless, I believe that few additional scenes would benefit the narrative in various ways. I had no emotional investment with the film, which I was constantly hoping for. This is not negative sentiment, more so a hopeful one. Regardless of its existing greatness, Life of Pi could have been greater. Had more character interaction taken place on the ship, we, or just I, would have felt a vast amount of relation to our protagonist Pi, and his story would have felt like my story, yet there was a particular distance between audience and character. This resulted in connecting with the character known as The Writer, whom the story is being told to by Pi, rather than Pi himself. This is something I wanted from the film, rather than disliked.
Life of Pi is a spiritual, visual and telling tale, that absorbs us into a magical journey that feels as if the screen resolution is wrapping around the theatre, giving us the feel of no escape, not that we would want to interrupt this 127 minute majesty. This is the only way I relate to Pi, for he has only himself and Bengal tiger Richard Parker for company, while I felt as if it was just me and the screen in the room. Even the ignorantly talkative cinema-goers behind me failed to disrupt this truly beautiful cinematic experience for me. Ang Lee leaps beyond the satisfactory, beyond the splendid, reaching the extraordinary, that did have the potential to be even more so, though still remains a great stature as this year's film count concludes.