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Life of Pi

eloisel

eloisel

Forever Empress E
Well ... this was some movie.

Some of it was disgusting.

Some of it was very upsetting.

Some of it was depressing.

Some of it had me on the edge of my seat.

Some of it made me laugh.

Some of it was wondrous.

Some of it made me cry.

Some people won't like it because belief in God is an important element to this story.

I will probably see it again when it is on Imax next week.
 
I had a similar reaction when I saw it Friday night. It's been hard to express it in words, I mostly just wanted to digest it internally for a few hours after seeing it. So when people asked me about it, I would get rid of them by saying "It's like Cast Away, only Wilson is a tiger!" ;)

The first 10 minutes or so are a mess while they attempt to set up the story. The guy playing the Writer sucked and I almost tuned the movie out until we got to the flashbacks. Once we got to Pi as a kid, things settled down and Ang Lee took over for good.

Very well done.
 
No spoilers ah ah ah. Just a question: does it stay true to the book vis. the ending? Can't wait to see this.
 
Loving the book as much as I do, I am really hesitant to watch the movie in fear of the makers having fucked up the elements I liked most.
I can't recall believing in God being a necessity for it to work, though, which just might be the first indication of the story having been fucked with, actually.
 
I haven't read the book so had no expectations. The audience doesn't have to believe in God. However, Pi is a very spiritual oriented person. He is a Catholic Hindu Muslim. He is also vegetarian. His core beliefs have a great deal of influence on how he perceives and responds to the events he survived. The audience's own relationship with TPTB, or lack thereof, will probably color how they see Pi.
 
If you recall, the author said that the person who sent him to Pi told him that Pi's story would make him believe in God.

Did you notice that Pi said that maybe the tiger couldn't be tamed but he could train the tiger? If you are familiar with dharma, then you are familiar with the concept of training the mind.

The question is, "which story did you prefer?"

The author said his preference, which apparently was also the one the Japanese investigators also preferred. Pi's response was, "and so it goes with God."

One of the core beliefs that Pi had studied and incorporated into his own set of core beliefs was that the human experience was actually the dream of a sleeping god.

I will probably read this book after I've watched it again in Imax and after I've had long talks with my daughter and some other friends about the concepts touched on in this story.
 
Ah, I gotcha. I misunderstood your initial remark to say that the audience believing in (a christian version of a) god would be a prerequisite to like the movie, which would have indicated major changes to the spiritual aspects of the book.

The beauty of the book is that it lets you dig as deeply into the underlying concepts, ideas, beliefs as you want. You can read it as a simple story, go for the psychological elements, or focus on the spiritual context, and it will always be satisfying.
 
I think I'm definitely going to have to read the book before seeing this, as great as the movie seems. Tried to read it when I was 12, but just couldn't get into it.

On a related note - thoughts on seeing the film like this? :

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It would definitely be a different movie watching experience. Maybe just wait for it to come out on DVD and buy a waterbed. A tiger in the room would ramp up the excitement level too.
 
Heaven forbid if you need to tinkle halfway through the movie - what with all that water around it would certainly get the taps flowing.
 
I buy a small drink when I go to the movies. The new concession people always want to force a large drink on me because of my rewards card - "its free!" So, in my best old lady face, I say, "Thank you but I don't want the larger drink. I don't want to miss any of the movie." It takes some of them too long to get my meaning.



(*any minute now Donovan will come in with some snot nosed remark*)
 
I don't even buy refreshments at the theater. It's as if my bladder senses I'm trying to enjoy a long film and decides NOW is the time to signal the need to micturate, halfway through the film.
 
I have to have my little bitty bag of popcorn and a small unsweet iced tea. Sometimes I go to the movies just for the popcorn.
 
Ah, diabetes. You heartless bitch of a disease.


:voodoo:










Normally I'm alone in a theater so can't have a little nibbly share of someone else's bag. Plus it's just silly loading up on insulin just to have a wee bit of popcorn.
 
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