"Lee and scribe David Magee ("Finding Neverland") have extracted the book's inherently cinematic qualities, turning Martel's vivid wildlife descriptions into a feast for the eyes; the film's sheer beauty is so overwhelming, so vibrant in its use of color, as to become almost cloying at times. (...) The nimbly circling camera is forever finding compelling angles on the action, sometimes bobbing gently above and below the water's surface, conveying a sense of perpetual motion that might test some of the more sensitive stomachs in the audience. Yet the images just as often have a classical stillness and grandeur, as in a scene of bioluminscent fish illuminating the water at night, or an otherworldly shot of the boat gliding atop the ocean's smooth, glassy surface. (...) The overall effect of such exalted yet artificially achieved visuals is to loose the boundaries of conventional realism and steer the picture into a magically heightened realm, immersing the viewer in the story without losing sight of the fact that a story, in fact, is all it is.For all the splendor of the craftsmanship on display, from David Gropman's eye-popping production design to Mychael Danna's Indian-inflected score"
by Justin Chang in Variety
"That Ang Lee has managed to turn the limitations of his source material into his adaptation's greatest strength makes "Life of Pi" a significant achievement for the filmmaker in spite of blatant problems with structure, dialogue and other surface issues. "Life of Pi" succeeds in its most audacious moments and struggles whenever it returns to familiar ground. (...) "Life of Pi" announces Lee's intention to craft astonishing visions. (...) With phenomenal underwater footage that realizes the pandemonium of wild animals run loose on a slippery vessel, the intense and supremely well-crafted scene of the ship's demise is perhaps the best of its kind since "Titanic." (...) the main scenario forms Lee's most spectacular achievement since "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" -- ironically enough, there's more tiger in this movie than that one, and he's a magnificently realized screen presence -- and the movie certainly represents Lee's grandest directorial achievement since "Brokeback Mountain." (...) For reasons only revealed later on, "Life of Pi" contains a tremendously involving degree of magical realism that enhances the harsh fairy tale quality of the adventure. The movie's visuals frequently transcend the plot."
by Eric Kohn in indieWIRE
"Director Ang Lee uses every corner of the frame to create an outstanding tapestry of images, quickly assuaging any fears that the use of 3-D is an exhibitor’s cash grab. (Most will agree this is the best use of stereo since Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo,” or, perhaps, ever.) (...) Unlike “127 Hours,” there are few cutaways into Pi’s mind, making Lee’s achievement perhaps even more extraordinary. There isn’t a dull moment in the film, and there are about 300 worthy of a “wow.” (...) “Life of Pi” is also one of those movies that has to end by telling you what a great movie you saw. (...) “Life of Pi” is a gorgeously filmed, fictional tone poem about a guy and a tiger on a boat thinking about God. (...) As filmmaking, however, it is a knockout, and there are moments, one in particular only a jerk would spoil, that should be included in every “iconic images in cinema” moments for the rest of time. In short, get on the boat and drift a while."
by Jordan Hoffman in Film.com
"Technology employed by sensitive hands brings to vivid life a work that would have been inconceivable onscreen until very recently in Life of Pi. Ang Lee, that great chameleon among contemporary directors, achieves an admirable sense of wonder in this tall tale about a shipwrecked teenager stranded on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger, a yarn that has been adapted from the compellingly peculiar best-seller with its beguiling preposterousness intact. (...) Life of Pi is an unusual example of anything-is-possible technology put at the service of a humanistic and intimate story rather than something that smacks of a manufactured product. (...) Creating a plausible, ever-changing physical world was the first and over-arching technical challenge met by the effects team. (...) The leap of faith required for Lee to believe this could be put up onscreen in a credible way was necessarily considerable. His fingerprints are at once invisible and yet all over the film in the tact, intelligence, curiosity and confidence that characterizes the undertaking. At all times, the film, shot by Claudio Miranda and with production design by David Gropman, is ravishing to look at, and the 3D work is discreetly powerful. Mychael Danna composed the emotionally fluent score."
by Todd McCarthy in The Hollywood Reporter
OSCAR POTENTIAL CATEGORIES:
- Best Picture
- Best Director (Ang Lee)
- Best Cinematography
- Best Production Design
- Best Original Score
- Best Editing
- Best Sound Editing
- Best Sound Mixing
- Best Visual Effects
BUT...
Some critics reported some script's flaws, in the way that Life of Pi achieves its greatness not because of the writting but most in spite of the writting. It won't be snubed in the artistic and technical categories and Ang Lee is definetely in the run for a Best Director nod, but is Pi good enough for the Academy's Best Picture tastes? Well it seems to be no Brokeback Mountain, but I believe it will be this year's Avatar - a visually powerful and commercially successful Best Picture Oscar nominee...
Comments