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'Life of Pi' certainly an Oscar contender

BY Tom Tangney  on November 21, 2012 @ 8:41 am (Updated: 9:59 am - 11/21/12 )

Oscar-winning director Ang Lee took four years and spent a fortune to make his latest film, "Life of Pi." The wait was worth it, as "Life of Pi" seems certain to be an Oscar contender this year.

"Life of Pi" is a marvel - so fresh and original - it's unlike anything you're apt to see on the big screen anywhere this year. It's a tale about a boy and a tiger that embraces its fantastical nature with gorgeous cinematography, stunning CGI work and sharp 3-D effects.

As almost a way to show off, the film begins in a veritable Garden of Eden, a sumptuous zoo set in a beautiful park in India.

All this visual splendor is in support of a very simple, dangerously simple, story. For most of this two-hour plus movie, it's just a boy named Pi marooned in a lifeboat with a surly Bengal tiger.

Over the course of the film, Pi learns to negotiate his way around this tiger in very close quarters, how to stay alive under the most trying of circumstances. Typical of the quiet, quirky charm of this film, the tiger is named Richard Parker.

"Life of Pi" flirts with mystical, New Age pabulum but pulls back just enough to avoid saccharine homilies.

In the end, it's more about the art of storytelling than any life lesson. Yes, it's all hard to believe, impossible in fact. And that makes it all the more enchanting.

Tom Tangney, KIRO Radio Host
Tom Tangney is co-host of KIRO Radio's Seattle's Morning News and resident enthusiast of...everything. He loves books, movies, TV, art, pop culture, politic, sports, and Husky football.
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Comments (5)


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  • Pete in Seattle wrote...
    Pronunciattion
    November 21, 2012 9:48 am
    As English speaking Americans we pronounce the Greek letter as Pie, which is how critics and promoters say it. But in the novel I thought there was a passage makenig the point that Pi pronounced his name Pee, short for Piscine (which is not far removed from Pissing). The fact that Pee has a different connection to the same derogatory nickname was not lost on me, and I took it as an allegory to Pi's view of religion. I was also reminded of O'Henry's story "Roads of Destiny".
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  • Snout wrote...
    Hey, If my name meant something gross in country I was visiting
    November 21, 2012 5:56 pm
    I'd change how I pronounced it faster than Marty Feldman in "The Young Frankenstein" from eeegor to eyegor.
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  • T Pense wrote...
    glowing praise?
    November 21, 2012 11:29 pm
    *have not seen it yet, but...* have heard from multiple, trustworthy sources independently, that this is a TWO AND A HALF STAR flick
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  • T Pense wrote...
    remember The English Patient?
    November 21, 2012 11:33 pm
    That's ok, noone else does either.
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  • cdbtx wrote...
    I'm not a big
    November 22, 2012 6:35 am
    go to the movie fan... but the trailer alone makes me want to watch this one... so it's on my to watch list...
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