It's probably telling that I've already triple dipped into the Life of Pi. From the very first scene -those strutting pink flamingos against the backdrop of a sepia painted wall with the gauzy overlay of the sublime voice of Bombay Jayashri - I knew this would be a special movie. It was beautiful to watch - expanses of sky and water in a breathtaking array of colors and textures. People were almost superfluous to this movie, and in truth, no one competed with Ang Lee's scenery. This was a tale about survival on many fronts - physical, spiritual and emotional - and a testament to the idea that survival sometimes depends on the stories we tell ourselves.(actually, when does it not?) This is destined to be a classic - a movie that will be loved and watched over and over again. I've already seen it three times - not counting the six times I've watched the opening sequence just to hear "Pi's Lullaby".
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen was a simple (and somewhat simplistic) love story built around the grand idea of bringing a sustainable salmon population to Yemen to feed a rich (yet honorable) man's appetite for fly fishing. British scientist in a professional marriage meets (British) attache to the Yemeni sheik in question. The project was green-lighted as a counterfoil to some bad press surrounding British-Yemeni relations. A stretch of a story (except for the part about the bad press). Nothing was fleshed out - there was no real explanation of the challenges beyond those implied by an aerial shot of a desert gorge littered with heavy machinery. There was no real tension, only insinuations of conflict and danger.We were asked to believe that this vague project (half-heartedly sabotaged by an unspecified fringe element ) and the fruition of this unlikely endeavour so lightly treated in the film could be the stuff of a great love story. I love Ewan McGregor, but I couldn't.
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