Life of Pi

"There is a famous formula, perhaps the most compact and famous of all formulas...It appeals equally to the mystic, the scientist, the philosopher, the mathematician."
-Edward Kasner and James R. Newman, "Mathematics and the Imagination"

Pi is a a mystic and a philosopher. His parents are scientists, though they named him not after the mathematical equation but after a swimming pool, the Piscine Molitor pool in France. Piscine, or Pi, mostly rejects his parents' lack of faith because "to choose doubt as a philosophy of life," the author Yann Martel mentions in the book, "is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation."  This is a fascinating thought, and I wished it would have made it to the film. Unfortunately, much of this deeper thinking is omitted; instead, we are treated to more of a visual experience. Pi may be a philosopher as is the author, but director Ang Lee is a visual artist. As an artist, he is remarkable and deserves his nomination for Best Director.  But with "Life of Pi," he hasn't been able to marry the visual with everything else like he did with "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Brokeback Mountain."

Pi's ship is called the Tzimtzum, which (I'm quoting Wikipedia) explains the concept that "God began the process of creation by 'contracting' his infinite light in order to allow for a 'conceptual space' in which a finite and seemingly independent world could exist." As we expect, the ship crashes and kills (we are to assume) not only the crew members but also most of the zoo animals belonging to his family. I say most because a Bengal tiger survives and fights for control of the lifeboat with Pi. Here on this boat is where Pi wakes up to find this infinite light, and now he is independent. It is this moment that Lee is at his finest. This is also the beginning of the second act and it's where Lee sometimes forfeits his storytelling ability to visually amaze us.

The first act shows us a young Pi (Ayush Tandon) as a teenager in school. His classmates have a lot of fun with his name ("Look, he is Piscine!" and "Are you Piscine right now?"). To avoid such mockery, he triumphantly ties the mathematical concept of pi to all his courses, chiefly with his math course as he writes all the numbers of pi on the board. The scenes with Tandon as Pi were my favorite because they embraced the coming-of-age aspect of the story. Here Pi is not a scientist like his parents but embraces not simply Hinduism but also Christianity and Islam--he praises Vishnu while also praying with the sign of the cross before his meals and praying five times a day towards Mecca. But as a young man (Suraj Sharma), he loses his faith(s) and is disappointed to hear that his family is moving their zoo to Canada. If you've seen the trailer, you've seen the gist of what happens next.

While barely surviving the ship's sinking, he's trapped on a small lifeboat with the tiger, the tiger his father warned him is not his friend. The tiger's name is Richard Parker, and it's best to hear why it's named that from the movie and not in this review. The second third is where Pi and Richard Parker struggle not only to survive but also to determine who will control the boat. The scenes are intriguing, but as mentioned before, the viewer has likely already seen a good chunk of this stuff from the trailer (I must stop watching trailers), and it's where Lee starts to try to impress us too much. The deeper thinking submits to visual effects, and obvious allegories are only briefly touched on. The third act is where the wheels really start to fall off.

This is not to say that "Life of Pi" is not a good movie. It is. And one of the reasons why it's so good is not only its visuals but also its fine performance by Sharma. He is virtually the only performer in the movie, and most of the time (I'm assuming) he's working with a CGI-tiger. This is Sharma's first movie, and I hope to see many more featuring him. As a visual experience, "Life of Pi" is a commendable job by Lee and his effects crew. As compelling, unforgettable storytelling, it's less appealing.