From the opening shots of animals languidly being animals in the zoo managed by Pi's family in Pondicherry, Ang Lee's intention is to reawaken our forgotten knowledge of animality. The underlying discussion this movie is engaged in is the connection between animality ("Nature" -- the many manifestations of the sublime) and religion. The acting is superb -- particularly Suraj Sharma, who we spend most of the movie with in the boat with Richard Parker -- and the computer animation seamless. This is definitely a movie worth watching.
Showing posts with label Life of Pi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Life of Pi. Show all posts
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Life of Pi
I finally got around to watching Life of Pi last night. I had held off because I was wary of the whole magical realism, "Oh, isn't nature trippy" thing. But there is no need to worry. Ang Lee is an accomplished director who keeps the narrative moving along at a fast clip (his first Hollywood efforts -- Sense and Sensibility (1995) and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) are terrific movies). And the "Oh, isn't nature trippy" moments are used sparingly and as punctuation in a white-knuckled action adventure story about survival in an open boat after a shipwreck on the high seas. And what makes the survival tale unusually riveting is that in the open boat with Pi Patel, the Tamil boy at the heart of Yann Martel's 2001 prize-winning novel that the film adapts, is an injured zebra, a bloodthirsty hyena, a benevolent orangutan, and of course the majestic and fierce Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. This is a thriller which puts us back in touch with the primordial terror we in all our urban, electronic sophistication have forgotten -- the terror of nature and the animal kingdom; and in this sense Life of Pi is far more thrilling than any James Bond or Batman blockbuster.
From the opening shots of animals languidly being animals in the zoo managed by Pi's family in Pondicherry, Ang Lee's intention is to reawaken our forgotten knowledge of animality. The underlying discussion this movie is engaged in is the connection between animality ("Nature" -- the many manifestations of the sublime) and religion. The acting is superb -- particularly Suraj Sharma, who we spend most of the movie with in the boat with Richard Parker -- and the computer animation seamless. This is definitely a movie worth watching.
From the opening shots of animals languidly being animals in the zoo managed by Pi's family in Pondicherry, Ang Lee's intention is to reawaken our forgotten knowledge of animality. The underlying discussion this movie is engaged in is the connection between animality ("Nature" -- the many manifestations of the sublime) and religion. The acting is superb -- particularly Suraj Sharma, who we spend most of the movie with in the boat with Richard Parker -- and the computer animation seamless. This is definitely a movie worth watching.
Sunday, March 17, 2013
End of Watch
End of Watch, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena, was my selection for a Saturday evening big Hollywood movie. I considered Life of Pi, but I was scared off by the two-hour-plus run time and the blurb line on Amazon Instant Video: "Together, they face nature's majestic grandeur."
End of Watch turned out to be a good choice. Produced, written and directed by David Ayers of Training Day fame, End of Watch is a postmodern, postmillennial Adam-12; it chronicles, in a faux digital cinéma vérité style, the adventures of two honest LAPD officers, played by Gyllenhaal and Pena, as they patrol their turf in South Central Los Angeles.
It's a buddy film with a lots of well-written, mostly-believable young-man buddy dialogue. Everyone is beautiful of course because it's a big Hollywood film. The soundtrack is quite good, too. (The love scene between Gyllenhaal and his romantic interest, played by Anna Kendrick from Up in the Air, features "Fade into You" by Mazzy Star.)
What makes the movie compelling is a plot that keeps the baleful force, the Sinaloa Cartel, that the two honest police officers keep haphazardly foiling, mostly off screen. This creates a tension, a sense of impending doom, that makes for an excellent action film.
At one hour 50 minutes End of Watch speeds along with never a dull moment. It blows away the only other pure action movie I've seen -- Skyfall -- since I started watching a big, recently-released-to-DVD Hollywood film each Saturday evening. I'd have to say that overall End of Watch is right up there with The Master.
End of Watch turned out to be a good choice. Produced, written and directed by David Ayers of Training Day fame, End of Watch is a postmodern, postmillennial Adam-12; it chronicles, in a faux digital cinéma vérité style, the adventures of two honest LAPD officers, played by Gyllenhaal and Pena, as they patrol their turf in South Central Los Angeles.
It's a buddy film with a lots of well-written, mostly-believable young-man buddy dialogue. Everyone is beautiful of course because it's a big Hollywood film. The soundtrack is quite good, too. (The love scene between Gyllenhaal and his romantic interest, played by Anna Kendrick from Up in the Air, features "Fade into You" by Mazzy Star.)
What makes the movie compelling is a plot that keeps the baleful force, the Sinaloa Cartel, that the two honest police officers keep haphazardly foiling, mostly off screen. This creates a tension, a sense of impending doom, that makes for an excellent action film.
At one hour 50 minutes End of Watch speeds along with never a dull moment. It blows away the only other pure action movie I've seen -- Skyfall -- since I started watching a big, recently-released-to-DVD Hollywood film each Saturday evening. I'd have to say that overall End of Watch is right up there with The Master.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)