Tag Archives: Ang Lee

Life of Pi Patel, without Tobey Maguire

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Life of Pi

Even good directors can get it wrong sometimes, but rarely does ( Hulk) and Life of Pi isn’t one of those mistakes. And despite what Christopher Doyle had to say about the cinematography or lack thereof regarding one of the Academy Awards that Life of Pi won (in http://sea.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/874483/christopher-doyle-interview-part-2-life-of-pi-oscar-is-an), it does look beautiful, cgi, 3d, visual effects, real life action, whatever you want to call it or know it to be. And to be fair, while maybe young, Claudio Miranda has worked on a few decent films in the past ( haven’t seen his latest, Oblivion, yet – I’m not a huge Tom Cruise fan, but I do think he can pull off a decent action or scifi movie anytime, with or without Morgan Freeman ).

Back to Life of Pi, I haven’t read the book, which was a blessing when watching the film. The cast are great, there’s not many famous actors (partly due animals not getting much recognition in that department), or have you heard of Suraj Sharma or Irrfan Khan before (please excuse my ignorance that aims to make someone prove me wrong)? Whether you know them or not, have to say they’re great in Life of Pi at least. There is someone called Gérard Depardieu in a smaller role though, that one might ring a bell to someone, was it a French or a Russian actor or something?

Beautiful, very emotional and moving story, well told, well shot (or created in post), well acted, one of the best in 2012, and deserved the Academy Awards – at least for Ang Lee, while the Visual Effects one as well wasn’t completely undeserved. About the Original Score one and the Cinematography Achievement we have to trust the Academy’s judgement I suppose.

I still probably like The Ice Storm Ang Lee’s best, but Life of Pi is really good.

 

Se, jie

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Ever since I saw The Ice Storm for the first time, Ang Lee became one of my favorite directors. I haven’t seen Brokeback Mountain yet, and Hulk somehow seemed unexpected film for Ang Lee to make – I’m trying to avoid anything too negative to say about that one. Maybe it’s worth another review, maybe not.

Lust, Caution

Lust, Caution is beautiful, beautifully directed film. It’s slow paced, with well thought out structure. The lead actors do an amazing job throughout and really bring the story together, the tension between them is holding the whole film together. Art direction and cinematography create a wonderful and slightly hazy atmosphere for the film.

If you’ve heard anything else about the film before, it’s likely you’ve heard about the sex and violence bits. While these elements in the film do add to the film, I think they’re getting too much attention really. They’re part of the film and Ang Lee’s done the best he could with those. They don’t have enough screen time to be the main part of the film even if they are integral to it. But then again, some people may find it’s a bit too much while others will wonder what’s the fuzz all about.

Beautiful work, well worth a watch, although I do like The Ice Storm more.