The story begins when a writer (Rafe Spall) who is
looking for inspiration visits Pi (Irrfan Khan) to hear about his
fantastic tale and brave adventure ‘that will make you believe in God’.
Pi revisits his childhood in India taking care of zoo animals with his
father, until the day his family decides to move to Canada. An epic
storm sinks the ship and Pi finds himself alone on a lifeboat with the
hungry carnivore. He manages to build a raft in order to maintain a safe
distance from the animal.The relationship between the two becomes the
narrative core; in the middle of nowhere, all they have is one another.
Assisted by by 3D technology, Lee’s film
transcends the instinct of survival theme, becoming an enchanting
portrait of visual poetry and one of the best examples of stunning
visual effects I’ve seen. Everything portrayed is contained within a
very specific idea of Pi’s perception; for example, reflections on water
make swimming seem like flying among the clouds. Recurrent mirror
effects provide a spiritual dimension to the journey. It’s a dreamlike
vision of very harsh conditions, where the raging of nature is viewed as
a rare work of art – favourite examples of sheer aesthetic beauty are a
sequence in which flying fish miraculously fill the lifeboat just as
the food has run out, and the harsh majesty of a life-threatening storm.
The cinematography shifts away from the realistic
via an exaggeration of the colour palette, which only heightens the
magic of the picture. Being absorbed by the illustrations – in many
ways, the film looks like a picturebook – some anticipated emotion is
drowned along the way. The film’s supremacy is in its personalised
reading of a philosophy of life rather than on the feelings it projects.
A strongly recommended trip for those who dream in colour.
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