Life of Pi

For F*** Magazine

LIFE OF PI

Director: Ang Lee
Cast: Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Rafe Spall
Genre: Adventure, Drama
Run Time: 127 mins
Opens: 29 November 2012
Rating: PG - Some Frightening Scenes

There’s no undertaking quite like filming the “unfilmable”, and director Ang Lee and co. have bravely stepped up to the plate with this adaptation of Yann Martel’s Man Booker Prize-winning novel Life of Pi. Many deemed translating the much-loved story to the big screen an impossible task, and it has been a long road to fruition – but the glorious end result probably makes it all worthwhile.

As a framing device, we have an author (Rafe Spall) visiting Piscene Molitor “Pi” Patel (Khan), who sets the stage with some backstory, including his relationship with his parents, his encounters with various faiths and the origins of his peculiar name. Then, he recounts for the writer a life-changing event: his getting stranded at sea for 227 days on a lifeboat alongside a Bengal Tiger named Richard Parker. 16-year-old Pi (Sharma) must learn to survive not only the harshness of the open ocean, but a hungry big cat too, as he embarks on an adventure that is as much spiritual and emotional as it is physical.



Life of Pi has been described as a “spiritual odyssey”, a coming-of-age film of “magical realism” dealing with faith and philosophical themes. Now, all this makes it sound lofty and inaccessible and may turn off many a viewer. It’s a good thing then that Lee has succeeded in making a deep, complex film very accessible and appealing. The first part of the film, in which an adult Pi speaks about his past, draws the viewer into a somewhat heightened, fantastical world, preparing them for the adventure ahead.

While Life of Pi isn’t one of those head-scratchingly confusing arthouse films, it’s also as far from your typical blockbuster as you can get – it’s not a movie for the particularly impatient, and is one of those “experiential”-type films that you need to just soak in. One could also describe Life of Pi as sort of a surrealistic buddy road trip movie – like in every such film; there are two characters on a journey, whose relationship is essential to the plot. It’s just that instead of, say, two stoners in a beat-up old car; it’s a boy and a Bengal tiger in a lifeboat. Now, before you begin groaning, let it be known that Lee’s famous visual flair is in full force here: this is probably the most-gorgeous looking film of the year and a breathtaking technical achievement in every regard. From a harrowing shipwreck to a whale leaping out of plankton-illuminated waters, it’s practically a parade of one awe-inspiring image after the other.



The framing device of an adult Pi telling his story to the writer is similar to that used in Titanic, and Spall and Khan put in commendable supporting performances, their relatively mundane meeting providing contrast to the larger-than-life odyssey that forms most of the movie. For the bulk of the film however, Pi is played by first-time actor Sharma, who beat out 3,000 other hopefuls for the part. He very nearly missed out too, as he wasn’t initially interested in auditioning, having tagged along for his younger brother’s audition. He gamely takes on the Herculean task of carrying a huge film (almost) all by his lonesome, something which would be daunting to any actor, let alone one with no prior film experience. Furthermore, Sharma spends most of the film acting opposite nothing, which isn’t an easy thing to do.

You probably won’t realise he is acting against nothing though, because of how incredibly lifelike Richard Parker the tiger and the other animals in the film look. Visual effects supervisor Bill Westenhofer of Rhythm and Hues Studios and his team have created a digital tiger that captures all the nuances of the real thing, every snarl, crouch and lunge feeling suitably animalistic and not plasticky or artificial as it well could have been. Extensive visual effects work was also used to make it look convincingly like Pi and Richard Parker were out on the open ocean, when in reality the film was shot in several water tanks in an abandoned airport in Taichung, Taiwan. Many films have come under fire for an overuse of computer-generated imagery, but along comes this film that serves as a perfect example for how the technology can be used as an effective storytelling tool.



3D has also been the target of similar accusations, and not without reason. However, Lee’s use of stereoscopic filmmaking is markedly artful and in many places adds to the otherworldly feel of Pi and Richard Parker’s sea voyage. There’s even a moment where the tiger lunges out of the screen – it could be seen as gimmicky, but is actually quite fun. Shooting the film in 3D was one of many elements that made Life of Pi a really difficult film to put together – animals, water, “unfilmable” source material and 3D on top of all of that?

Lee has admitted that this was the toughest film he’s had to work on, but he and the cast and crew of Life of Pi can rest assured that they’ve been amply rewarded with something of a masterpiece. If there’s any major thing this reviewer didn’t quite enjoy of the film, it would be the film’s attempt to incorporate the “twist ending” of the book, which seems to slightly undermine everything which came before. In the end, however, this is that rare movie which strikes a balance between the epic and the intimate, pure and refined in its storytelling – what movies are meant to be.

SUMMARY: It is, indeed, a wonderful Life – and certainly deserving of more than 3.142 stars.

RATING: 4 out of 5 STARS

Jedd Jong

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES

2011

Starring: Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Ian McShane

Directed by: Rob Marshall

            In 1957, the Pirates of the Caribbean ride opened at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. In 2003, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, based on the ride and expected to be a flop, brought the big swashbuckling pirate movie back in a big way. And now, Captain Jack is back for a fourth voyage in this movie, based on the novel “On Stranger Tides” by Tim Powers.

            In search of the fabled Fountain of Youth, Captain Jack has to battle the treacherous pirate Blackbeard and encounters his daughter, the beautiful Angelica, with whom he had a fling many years ago. Racing them to the Fountain are Jack’s old rival Barbossa, now in the employ of the King, and the Spaniards.

            For a franchise that was almost swallowed up by its ambitious scope and convoluted plot, On Stranger Tides is a triumphant return to form. This is a sequel in the best sense of the word: carrying on yet starting anew. The story is well-told and the pacing is swift. Everything we loved about the first film is back stronger than ever: the wonderful period atmosphere, the swordfights, chases and naval battles, and, of course, Captain Jack.

            Johnny Depp returns to his defining role like wearing a glove, every amusing mannerism, every witticism, delivered with strong craftsmanship and lithe energy. He’s also armed with some great lines by screenwriters Terry Rossio and Ted Elliot. Now that the “Will and Elizabeth” story arc from the first three movies has wrapped, attention has returned square to Sparrow, and Depp never once disappoints.

While Depp certainly gets the lion’s share of the limelight, he never hogs it. The new players fit in just right among familiar characters. Cruz and Depp share crackling chemistry, the beautiful and cunning Angelica the only one to ever come close to beating Sparrow at his own game. Ian McShane makes for a very scary Blackbeard, a worthy adversary to Sparrow. Sam Claflin as missionary Philip Swift and Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey as the mermaid he falls in love with work hard to keep up with the rest of the cast and fare well too.

The old-fashioned spirit of adventure missing from many modern films is alive and well in the fourth Pirates outing. This is a supremely enjoyable ride (almost as much as the source material), filled from start to finish with the same energy that flowed through the veins of the first film.

SUMMARY: Fun in the right places, thrilling in the right places, scary in the right places and humorous in the right places, this is one ship everyone should hop aboard. Arrrrrr!

RATING: 4/5 STARS

The Eagle

As published in F*** Magazine

THE EAGLE

2011 Release

Starring: Channing Tatum, Jamie Bell, Donald Sutherland

Directed by: Kevin Macdonald

            Having played American soldiers in Dear John and GI Joe: the Rise of Cobra, Channing Tatum now adds Roman centurion to his résumé. In this adaptation of Rosemary Sutcliff’s classic young adult novel The Eagle of the Ninth, Tatum plays Marcus Aquila, a young centurion whose father mysteriously disappeared in battle, along with 5000 men and the titular Eagle standard. With his servant Esca (Bell), Marcus sets off to reclaim the Eagle and restore honour to his family’s name.

            The Eagle isn’t what you’d normally see in theatres nowadays, and its old-fashioned sword-and-shield sensibilities are respite from the largely aimless fare flooding theatres at this time of the year. However, it ends up being an almost-epic – the period and tone isn’t quite perfect, the American accents too distracting, and the quest not absorbing enough.

            That’s not to say the movie doesn’t try hard, though. The battle sequences are intense and realistic, and the brutality does push the PG-13 rating a tad – expect beheadings, throat-slitting, stabbings and most upsetting, children dying onscreen. There are also sweeping locations in the form of Loch Lomond and the Scottish Highlands – but just not enough to sell the idea that this was indeed set in Roman times.

Try as he might, Channing Tatum is the farthest one can get from a Roman centurion. His performance is mostly unaffecting, but he excels in the action sequences and apparently suffered for his craft, sustaining a burn injury on his penis. Things were probably less painful for Jamie Bell, who is clearly the better actor of the two. As the slave rescued from the gladiatorial arena by Marcus, he provides a counterpoint for the more traditional action hero-style character of Marcus, and the uneasy bromance is played well between them both.

The movie does plod along, and is as predictable as they get. That’s one of the pitfalls of being a clear-cut “quest” movie, I suppose. Fight savages, run away, try to survive, repeat until Eagle is found. There’s not a lot in the way of a supporting cast either: Donald Sutherland and Mark Strong pop up for less than ten minutes respectively, but do lend whatever gravitas they can.

It doesn’t stand up to the classics of this genre and probably won’t find a very large audience amongst today’s moviegoers, but at least this tale of a bygone era of adventure, honour, loyalty and all that good stuff got made, and that’s got to be worth something.

RATING: 3/5 STARS

Jedd Jong

Sanctum

As published in F*** Magazine

SANCTUM

2011 Release

Starring: Richard Roxburgh, Rhys Wakefield, Ioan Gruffudd

Directed by: Alister Grierson

            The poster proudly trumpets “from executive producer James Cameron, director of Avatar and Titanic”. When your executive producer is the biggest selling point, that might not be a good sign. Filmed in 3D, this cave-diving adventure thriller was photographed with Cameron’s Fusion Camera System – but can an underwater-set film match up to The Abyss with only Cameron’s camera system and without the man himself at the helm?

            Inspired by the experiences of co-writer Andrew Wight, Sanctum tells of respected cave diver Frank (Roxburgh) and his son Josh (Wakefield), who become trapped in the Esa’ala Cave in Papua New Guinea as it begins to flood during a monsoon. With them are the wealthy expedition bank-roller Carl (Gruffudd) and his girlfriend Victoria (Alice Parkinson), who quickly realize that a cave such as Esa’ala is no place for tourists – however, Carl’s hot-headed and competitive nature puts him at odds with Frank, who is himself estranged from his son.

            Sanctum is pretty much a documentary dressed up as an adventure film, so on the one hand there are awe-inspiring visuals of underwater caverns and the like, and on the other there’s the cliché-ridden story and hokey screenplay. There’s the father-and-son subplot, the arrogant rich guy and his girlfriend who are only good for getting everyone into trouble, and life-or-death situations far beneath the earth’s surface.

            While the plot and scenarios aren’t realistic per se, the individual situations are, and the film plays on the primal fear of death by drowning, and emphasizes the importance of staying calm during unpredictable crisis situations. The tension is sustained and the peril palpable and several scenes are genuinely frightening.

The transitions from the actors to their diving stunt doubles are seamless and unnoticeable and there’s a good balance between location, soundstage and CGI footage. This probably would look great in 3D (I saw the 2D version), but there’s a little too much squeezing through cramped spaces and not enough of the awe-inspiring cavern shots.

Richard Roxburgh is mostly under-appreciated in Hollywood, often cast in depthless villain roles. He’s very good here and is pretty believable as a professional cave-diver. Rhys Wakefield is proving himself as a rising young talent, but may have some trouble breaking into Hollywood, and for one, can’t deliver the F-word to save his life (he has about twenty of them).

 Unfortunately the whole thing is ruined by Ioan Gruffudd, who delivers a staggeringly bad performance that is far from (Mr) fantastic. In between the whining and the histrionics, sure he makes his character seem unlikable, but doesn’t give any reason for him to be in the movie in the first place.

Sanctum manages to hang on to some of that adventure movie spirit, and there is a thrill in exploring “caverns measureless to man” from the comfort of a movie theatre, but there’s not much to hold the film together and the spectacle doesn’t quite make up for it either.

RATING: 2.5/5 STARS

Jedd Jong