A joy to watch and the best film of 2012 to date

Rating: 10/10 (16 February 2013)

I've been waiting for a film to really capture my imagination from 2012 and I was beginning to think it wasn't going to happen. Life of Pi finally did that. Stunningly beautiful and inspiring, it's the best movie I've seen from last year. A young man (Pi) and his family are shipwrecked while moving to America with the animals from their family zoo. While he manages to survives the ordeal on a life boat, he must find a way to co-exist with some of the other survivors of the wreck; particularly a Bengal Tiger curiously named Richard Parker.
A few minutes into this I knew I was going to love this movie. The opening scenes were beautiful shot and the musical score was joyous and whimsical. I was intrigued from the start and the film kept me that way throughout. There's something about well made movies with animals just I can't resist (yes, I'm a sucker that way). I don't think I've ever watched Two Brothers without being moved to tears.
First off all, Ang Lee does a lot with very little on screen out side of the ocean and a boat. You would think there isn't much you can do with a film story like this, but Lee makes it work (his creativity is clearly on display). There are some really beautiful visual effects scenes (especially at night time) and the CG Tiger was beyond belief! I still can't believe that Tiger wasn't real, just outstanding work by the visual effects team that worked on that. I also felt the 3D worked really well for this movie. 3D works when it's used to make the film more immersive (like in Avatar) and not just as a cheap gimmick in order to charge more. The pacing was very good at no point in the over 2 hours did I feel it dragged or lost interest. There was also more than enough to keep you entertained (again, it's hard to do this when limited with what you can do) and plenty of humour was sprinkled throughout. Combining this with the soothing score and great storytelling, this film just seemed to work for me on every level.
There are some definite parallels to Cast Away; this seemed unavoidable given the nature of the story. While there were similarities, at no point did I find this film was a cheap imitation or ripped off Cast Away as some would suggest. This film stands on it's own merit and I even felt had a number of powerful scenes that rivalled Robert Zemeckis's classic.
It takes great acting to make both these movies work and fortunately that is the case here. Newcomer Suraj Sharma (young Pi) creates a character you can't help but love. And Irfan Khan's (adult Pi) narration is outstanding and pulls everything together. Together they really bring this character to life and are very believable; when the emotional scenes come, they hit home. The ultimate scene of this film for me comes when Richard Parker and Young Pi's journey comes to an end and it's so heartbreaking it had me fighting back tears. Both Suraj and Irfan are completely broken and their performances lift the scene to what I think maybe the most emphatic of 2012. It reminded me of a similar scene in Cast Away that is one of my favorite movie moments ever and gets me every time.
There are philosophical and spiritual elements of this film which I found really interesting as well. I tend to hate most movies where you watch most of the film and at the end the film does a complete 180 and says "Oh, what you watched the last 1.5 hours didn't really happen; *this* is what really happened!". That gimmick is often used to create shock value and most of the time is a cop out by the director for a bad story. The difference here is that mechanism serves a legitimate purpose in this film. In another moving scene in the film Young Pi tells another version of the story. The author (and Ang Lee via proxy) doesn't treat you as a child and dictate to you what to believe and why. Two stories are presented and it's up to you to believe in whichever you choose. The film makes it clear it's not so much which story you chose to believe, but why you chose it and whether or not you're at peace with that decision. And in making your choice, I think the film forces you learn something about yourself. I confirmed what I've always believed: that I'm hopelessly optimistic.
I loved that this film challenged me in this way and it sparked a really interesting conversation on the drive home and among friends later. This for me is always one of the elements of a great movie; the lasting effect of it. What was the film saying? What does the film mean to you personally? How does it make you look at life or circumstances differently? These are all questions I was asking myself in the days after and even now still. And everyone has their own answers and opinions, as they should. And that's kind of the point.
While I'm pulling for it to win Best Picture next week, Hollywood politics are always in play. It looks like that's going to either Zero Dark Thirty or Lincoln. Which is really unfortunate, because this is a better overall film than both of those films. I wish this had maybe come out in a weaker year where it would receive the praise it deserves. If this were to match up against say Slumdogg Millionaire or The King's Speech, it would be a no brainer in my opinion.
This film blew me away and it's not to be missed. Movies like Life of Pi are why I love going to movies.
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