Life of Pi (2012)

A young man who survives a disaster at sea is hurtled into an epic journey of adventure and discovery. While cast away, he forms an unexpected connection with another survivor: a fearsome Bengal tiger.

Director:

Ang Lee

Writers:

Yann Martel (novel), David Magee (screenplay)

Stars:

Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Adil Hussain

Won 4 Oscars. Another 79 wins & 129 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Suraj Sharma	...	Pi Patel
Irrfan Khan	...	Adult Pi Patel
Ayush Tandon	...	Pi Patel (11-12 Years)
Gautam Belur	...	Pi Patel (5 Years)
Adil Hussain	...	Santosh Patel
Tabu	...	Gita Patel
Ayaan Khan	...	Ravi Patel (7 Years)
Mohd. Abbas Khaleeli	...	Ravi Patel (13-14 Years)
Vibish Sivakumar	...	Ravi Patel (18-19 Years)
Rafe Spall	...	Writer
Gérard Depardieu	...	Cook
James Saito	...	Older Insurance Investigator
Jun Naito	...	Younger Insurance Investigator
Andrea Di Stefano	...	Priest
Shravanthi Sainath	...	Anandi

Storyline

In Canada, a writer visits the Indian storyteller Pi Patel and asks him to tell his life story. Pi tells the story of his childhood in Pondicherry, India, and the origin of his nickname. One day, his father, a zoo owner, explains that the municipality is no longer supporting the zoo and he has hence decided to move to Canada, where the animals the family owns would also be sold. They board on a Japanese cargo ship with the animals and out of the blue, there is a storm, followed by a shipwrecking. Pi survives in a lifeboat with a zebra, an orangutan, a hyena and a male Bengal tiger nicknamed Richard Parker. They are adrift in the Pacific Ocean, with aggressive hyena and Richard Parker getting hungry. Pi needs to find a way to survive.

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Plot Keywords:

tiger | india | journey | faith | pi | 

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Taglines:

Welcome to Pi's Ark.

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Fantasy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for emotional thematic content throughout, and some scary action sequences and peril

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA Taiwan UK Canada

Language:

English Tamil French Japanese Hindi Chinese

Release Date:

21 November 2012 (USA)

Also Known As:

Una aventura extraordinaria

Filming Locations:

Montréal, Québec, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$120,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$22,451,514, 23 November 2012, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$124,987,023, 25 July 2013

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$609,016,565, 25 July 2013

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fox 2000 Pictures, Dune Entertainment, Ingenious Media

Technical Specs

Runtime:

127 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Datasat SDDS Dolby Atmos Dolby Surround 7.1 Sonics-DDP

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Japanese cargo ship's name, Tsimtsum, is a Hebrew word used by 16th-century Kabbalist Isaac Luria to denote God's "contraction" of Himself from the world at Creation. In the novel, the adult Pi mentions doing a college thesis on Luria's theories about creation. In the movie, he mentions teaching a course on Kabbalah.

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Goofs

In the flying fish scene Pi fights Richard Parker with a boat hook. In one shot, the boat hook has a splintered end but then is completely restored.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Writer: So, you were raised in a zoo?
Adult Pi Patel: Born and raised. In Pondicherry, in what was the French part of India. My father owned the zoo, and I was delivered on short notice by a herpetologist, who was there to check on the Bengal monitor lizard. Mother and I were both healthy, but the poor lizard escaped and was trampled by a frightened cassowary. The way of karma, huh? The way of God.

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Crazy Credits

The opening credits have letters or words that react to action on the screen, such as the "Y" while a monkey is hanging on a branch. Also, there are words fluttering while the zebras swish their tails.

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Connections

Referenced in West Hollywood Motel (2013)

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Soundtracks

Sous le Ciel de Paris
Music by Hubert Giraud
Lyrics by Jean Dréjac

User Reviews

Probably the Most Complete Film of the Year

The movie narrates an incredible story using the most beautiful special effects and great actors.

It is more that a survival story and it is not about friendship. This story is about faith. Director Ang Lee use all the tools he have to make this movie about a solitary young man not a boring one. It is narrated by both, young Pi and the Adult Pi, it uses music all the time so there is not space for uncomfortable silents and the rhythm of the scenes is fast. The result a very entertained film.

The most important thing of this film is it character. It is obvious because we are seeing for almost 2 hours just one character. So it is not only important to have a great character that appeals to the audience feelings, but to have an actor that portray this person the right way. Suraj Sharma was brilliant as Pi. He can make happy scenes as equal as sad, desperate, hopelessness, exhaustion and anger ones. Very few movies allow an actor represent so many emotions.

But if Pi is a good character, Richard Parker can only be describe as unique. The tiger as personality of it's own. Not many films can make an animal with so many human features and yet never stop being a wild animal. This tiger is computed animated but the audience will barely notice, because the way it walks, eats, its factions, the eyes. It doesn't matter if it is computer animation, Richard Parker is alive and is his own character just as important as Pi is.

If you think that "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" have good animal effects, you have to see how this people make a zebra, a hyena and a orangutan. All this, combine with a photography created by the same guy that make "Tron: Legacy" looks so cool and "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" so beautiful, Claudio Miranda, makes it an incredible experience to see.

This movie is definitely an Oscar runner for Special Effects, Cinematography, Director and Movie of the year.