Life of Pi

directed by Ang Lee

“This movie better not be just about a bunch of animals,” my wife stated as we sat down for Ang Lee’s wonderful Life of Pi. I told her a movie like this was similar to being hypnotized. “You have to want to be hypnotized, though. Otherwise, it never works.” Life of Pi is lovely, lush, sincere and beautiful, but you have to want to be hypnotized by its delicate charm. Ang Lee deserves all the praise he has earned for taking such a cerebral, philosophical novel and translating it into a work that compels us to watch and to be wrapped up in its magic. The story is surely well known (as beloved as the book is): Pi, the lone survivor of a shipwreck that orphans him, finds himself sharing a life boat with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. As the pair struggle to define their own roles and survive the fickle and dangerous terrain of the Pacific Ocean, Pi and Richard Parker come to rely on one another. Lee finds a way to connect many of the dots in fine fashion, weaving faith, interconnectivity, survival, adolescence and the meaning of life itself into a kind of blanket that comforts the soul. Is it a film that will stand the test of time? I’m certainly not one to draw such audacious assumptions, but it sure made my heart glow.

PS Holy hell, Suraj Surma! You got mad squabbles, kid! Bravo.