Life of Pi

An emotionally eye opening film as well as visually, Life of Pi embraces both a strong narrative and superb style of filming to make it one of the stand out points in a year full of already memorable films. The film follows the book by Yann Martel closely in which a young man by the name of Piscine Molitor Patel, named after a swimming pool in France though he later comes to abbreviate it to 'Pi', growing up peacefully in India, Pi finds himself searching for the meaning of life by taking up not one but three different religions. In all he finds a piece of tangible meaning and helps further his view of the deepening of the meaning of life, continuing a relatively normal life for a young boy named Piscine whose family owns a Zoo, Pi deals with issues of love, religion and family. It's when his family are forced into a financial corner and find themselves having to move the entire Zoo full of animals that Pi ends up on a journey of both spiritual and physical challenge when the freight liner collapses into the ocean, leaving him stranded on a small lifeboat with his only companion a deadly and vicious Bengal Tiger named Richard Parker.

Suraj Sharma takes center lifeboat as Pi Patel our protagonist lost at sea with only Richard Parker for company, Sharma makes a perfect castaway with his spiritual and idealistic optimism making him a likable and realistic character that the audience will actually care about. Following Pi from a young age, you see his hopeful character from the beginning as he wrestles with ideology  school bullying and forays into love done with justice by younger interpretations of Pi from both Gautam Belur to Ayush Tandon as he progresses. Talk about a character who's all over the place, we see Pi recounting his tale from a man who's gotten through all the trials and tribulations already as Irrfan Khan, who brings a sense of lived triumph to the journey of his younger self. Putting Pi aside for the time being, his parents Santosh and Gita Patel are played to justice, warmth and care by Adil Hussain and Tabu respectively. Gerard Depardieu makes an appearance as an angry french chef who makes clear he has no time for vegetarians and plays the grouch brilliantly. Last but by no means least is Rafe Spall who echoes the audiences reaction on screen as the eldest Pi recounts his greatest journey, for someone who needs only offer an encouragement for the story continue, you still feel Spall gives his all. Though it really has to come full circle in praise for the shining star who manages to make the story emotional, humerous and downright inspiring, Suraj Sharma is clearly the shining star of this piece.

As far as inspirational, charming and brilliant cinema goes Life of Pi finds itself very close to the top. It's endearing, ambitious and visually stunning to behold with brilliant performances from all involved including the much praised both CGI and real Tiger, Richard Parker. 2012 has been a year in which special effects have pushed many films into existence but few can match Life of Pi's warmth and charm as well, a Slum-dog Millionaire meets Avatar and surprisingly the combo that works electrifyingly well. This isn't just 2 hours of a boy on a boat with a tiger, this is inspirational film making at it's best though that isn't too surprising coming from Ang Lee, as it states in the title we see the life of that young man before his life changing event and see that his story is just as immersive without a Bengal Tiger. It's unlike any other film this year and considering the state of films in the current climate such a rare spark of imagination and originality is a rare thing to come by. Life of Pi is a film which has to be seen to be believed, and even then you might not just believe what you've seen yet still it really is a must see, entertaining as a family film, a life changing film and an especially heart warming one. 

9  /  10

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