Life of Pi
Tisdale- Thursday, February 28, 2013
by:Timothy W. Shire
Though we are told that 2012 was a year with some very good movies there were only a few that I saw that made the grade as being worth recommending and a whole lot that were simply garbage. The tendency in Hollywood is to make only about three kinds of movies; horror flicks that emphasize killing and bad photography, action adventure movies that emphasize extreme none stop violence and something called "romantic comedies" which generally are neither romantic nor are they funny. There are a good number of animations made each year and they are often the only movies fit to take a family to because the other three kinds of movies are usually rated "R". In any case, if the movie features live action, (real actors not animation) few movies are made with out involving excessive use of language that is simply not acceptable.
The language thing is really a difficult thing, because it appears that Americans not only think it is actually funny, but they also seem to think that is the way people talk to one another. The movies nominated for Academy Awards for best picture this year had just such issues. "Silver linings playbook" which is really an outstanding and complex movie for which Jennifer Lawrence deserves the best actress award she won, was marred by the language. It as a great concept, authentic acting, but what comes out of their mouths is just not what I would call entertaining.
"Argo" is a thrilling suspense filled movie and one could argue that it deserved its best movie of the year award, but once again the dialogue of the characters portrayed by John Goodman and Alan Arkin involves in some cases just repeating the "F" word. Ben Affleck did a remarkable job of taking this tale and turning it into a tense movie but most people should feel offended at the language they had endure to watch the picture.
First off, let's consider what makes a really great movie. Above all you need a good story, then you need to tell that story well, you need interesting characters that you can identify with and appreciate, you need a setting that is distinct and plays a part in the story line, then you need development. To be really, really good, a story should take its characters and right before your eyes, you should see them change by the experiences that are part of the story.
Now to make all this happen you need two things that have to be better then everything else to be considered great. You must have great writing so that the story is in itself worth telling and second, you need superior direction to turn words into images and experience for the viewer. There is one other element that in most movies is just an extra, but in this movie the score, the music in the movie won an Oscar on its own having taken over a year to write by Winnipeg composer Mychael Danna, it is a monument in itself.
"Life of Pi" is based on the book of the same name by Saskatoon author Yann Martel which was an award winner, sold ten million copies and is number six on the New York Times best seller list six full years since it was published. The screen play is by David Magee who crafts a complex novel into a 127 minute motion picture.
The director of the movie is Ang Lee who has been collecting academy awards since 1995. Movies he directed have been awarded one Oscar for Sense and Sensibilities, four for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, three for Brokeback Mountain and now four for Life of Pi. In this one he takes a very complex story of a boy from India and lets us see him as a child, then a teenager as his family sets off to Canada with their zoo animals on a ship which sinks and he survives 236 days at sea sharing a lifeboat with a bengal tiger named Richard Parker. But that story is the framework for an exploration of culture, life itself, religion, survival and coping with situations beyond experience.
Unlike many movies based on novels, there is no need to have read the book, or even get some idea about what you are about to see. Just go to the movie, experience the magic of the pictures and the illusion of both fantasy and reality combines. Life of Pi is an all time great movie.
