A man and a tiger alone on a lifeboat. It was never supposed to work as a film. There’s too much solitude, too much internal narration, too much tiger for a live animal or believable CGI. It was a great book, but it was never supposed to be a great film.
Enter Ang Lee, the Oscar–winning director of “Brokeback Mountain.” Using stunning visuals and a unique storytelling structure, Lee makes it work. The film, as the title indicates, focuses on Pi, an Indian man whose family owns a zoo. When they decide to move to Canada and bring the animals with them on a freighter, the ship sinks and Pi is left alone on a lifeboat with a tiger. But it’s not just about the shipwreck. It’s about Pi’s whole life, from how he got his odd name to his first love. By the time we get to the lifeboat, the film has earned the solitude, the silence and the CGI tiger.
The visuals are captivating, as Lee treats even the most ordinary shot as a work of art. He does James Cameron one better, shooting without as much CGI and relying on the shimmering ocean and the beauty of animals and India. The 3D he does use is not employed as a gimmick but instead as a way to put you in Pi’s place, to see what he sees and feel what he feels. And you do. That’s why the film is so powerful.
Directed by Ang Lee Starring Suraj Sharma, Tabu, Adil Hussein, Irrfan Khan
4/5 stars
