Movies/Books: Life of Pi

Normally I wouldn't bother posting a preview, but this one intrigues me.



First of all, I loved this book, and from the getgo have been flummoxed by the idea that it would be turned into something literal. If you've read it, you know what I mean.

But then you look at these scenes, and you think about Ang Lee, and regardless of how much or how little you think it feels like the book, it sure as hell feels pretty amazing as a preview. Maybe this will be one of those 3-Ders that actually do the job, the last of that ilk being, in my opinion, Hugo. When serious filmmakers take on a new technology, the results are worthy of study, whether they succeed or fail. This may seem to contradict other things I've said about 3-D, but my fears have never been that artists will move the medium but that hacks will move it. At the point where almost every movie released is, unnecessarily, in 3-D because of an idea that that's what the market will bear, thus generating more revenue, it is not an artistic decision but a financial one. Say what you will about theories of art, those theories that equate art with commerce are probably not the ones artists should be following. The muse of money may be real, but it's not particularly artistic. I'm as much in favor of making a buck as the next guy, in other words, but not at the risk of losing works of art.

Anyhow, this one looks interesting, at the moment. It also looks only marginally like the book Life of Pi. And that's the underlying problem of previews: it's not that the jury is out, but that the trial hasn't even started yet. We'll just have to wait and see. On the other hand, the preview itself is quite good. Maybe we don't need the movie. Maybe this is enough Richard Parker to satisfy us forever.