Recently I had the opportunity to screen footage for Ang Lee’s upcoming Life of Pi (releasing November 21st). I walked away very impressed. The cinematography was truly astounding and the below 10-second clip won’t begin to do it service. It’s delightful to see the masters taking turns with 3D now. We’ve seen Scorsese bust it out of the park with Hugo and even though I had issues with Ridley’s Prometheus, the stunning 3D was not one of them.
Lee’s one of those directors who, even if his films don’t work for you, always gives you something to take away from the work. Synopsis after the clip, and some neat banners for you as well:
Pi Patel is an unusual boy. The son of a zookeeper, he has an encyclopedic knowledge of animal behavior, a fervent love of stories, and practices not only his native Hinduism, but also Christianity and Islam. When Pi is sixteen, his family emigrates from India to North America aboard a Japanese cargo ship, along with their zoo animals bound for new homes.
The ship sinks. Pi finds himself alone in a lifeboat, his only companions a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and Richard Parker, a 450-pound Bengal tiger. Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi, whose fear, knowledge, and cunning allow him to coexist with Richard Parker for 227 days lost at sea. When they finally reach the coast of Mexico, Richard Parker flees to the jungle, never to be seen again. The Japanese authorities who interrogate Pi refuse to believe his story and press him to tell them “the truth.” After hours of coercion, Pi tells a second story, a story much less fantastical, much more conventional-but is it more true?
Source: The Film Stage