Pi - System im Chaos

"Pi" is an amazing independent films. Darren Aronofsky had never made a feature film and was barely able to scrape together the $60,000 needed to make this film. Despite this pitifully small budget, he managed to make a remarkably watchable film AND it caught the eyes of the 'big boys'--and soon he was given $1,000,000 for his film! While not quite as insanely successful as "The Blair Witch Project" (which came out the following year), unlike the filmmakers of this other project, Aronofsky has gone on to greater things--including the wildly successful and critically acclaimed "Black Swan" as well as "The Wrestler".

Describing the look of the film is VERY difficult. Sure, it's cheap but Aronofsky managed to get past this by using black & white and deliberately making the print very grainy--giving it a wonderfully surreal look. I am not exactly sure how he did this but it worked well. And, because he wasn't able to use top equipment, it has a bit of a homemade look--which I was able to look past. Much of this was because the plot was so wild and surreal as well as very stylish.

Describing the plot...well that's even MORE difficult! It's a strange tale about a man who is on the edge of losing his mind. He is convinced that everything in nature and life can be quantified and explained through mathematics. And, given that you can find the correct mathematical formula, you can predict and understand EVERYTHING. So Maximillian spends nearly every second of his waking day devoted to this all-encompassing task. He avoids relationships, is very unkempt and is a miserable excuse for a human being. And, eventually it all begins to take its toll as he begins to hallucinate and experiencing excruciating pain in his body and brain. What's next for this incredibly strange man with his seemingly impossible task? See the film!

This is a very, very difficult film to rate. It gets very high marks for originality and it is entertaining. However, it's NOT a film for the mainstream. The average Joe would probably find it all just too weird and too confusing. But, if you want something different and are patient, it's well worth seeing.

This screenplay must have been turned down one hundred times before someone would finance it. I don't blame them. However, what could have been a travesty was saved by great acting, directing, cinematography, and sound. This brilliant/bizarre film turns a genius's quest to find the code for Wall Street into an adventure that engulfs all of human existence, and God. A brilliant example of how proper film making can turn straw into gold. Some viewers may be put off by the bizarre fits the main character faces, or the intrusion of complex mathematics into film, forcing the viewer to think, but if you watch this film, you will be rewarded a unique movie-going experience few other films will give you. This film gives you a look into the mind of man plagued by the genius he was given.

'Pi' is independent filmmaking at its best. Without the constraints of the studio/corporate system, Aronofsky and Gullette created a film that is bizarre, intelligent, and unlike anything that came out of Hollywood in the 1990's. Who would have thought to blend Wall Street, the Kabbalah, computer science, Go, number theory, and the most fascinating number in the universe in a solute of obsessive-compulsive, paranoid genius and then strain through gritty B&W cinematography and hyperkinetic editing? The mixture is definitely not for everybody, but I certainly loved it.

Plus the soundtrack (featuring Orbital, Clint Mansell, Aphex Twin. Gus Gus, Spacetime Continuum, and other techno talents) just flat-out rocks.

Pi is the oddest, hippest, most chilling account of the descent into the abyss.

Following mathematical clues derived from an analysis of the stock market, Maximillian Cohen begins his descent into madness as he attempts to discover the nature of everything through the peculiar numerical entity known as Pi.

Thrilling enough, but then combine with generous amounts of Kaballistic mysticism, black and white footage and a soundtrack like an audible fractal, and you have a sensory snare which drags you along for the ride into Max's impending breakdown.

Obsession has never been so exciting.

Pi is an utterly gut-wrenching, mind expanding phenomema. If you have ever wondered about the universe, God or the nature of insanity, Pi will take you where you don't want to go.

Now here'a film that is "not for all tastes," as the cliché goes.

"Strange" doesn't quite cover it but it is not that bizarre that you can't figure out what's happening. Director-writer Darren Arokofsky made a name for himself with his second movie, Requiem For A Dream, and this was the young filmmakers' first effort. It was made a tight budget since he was an unknown, but that's part of the attraction. This is grainy black-and-white, and so is the gritty story and most of the characters. The unique look fits the story.

It's not a story that is going to please a lot of people - an almost-demented math wizard trying to figure out stock market codes and two groups hounding him trying to cash in on his brainpower. One is trying to use him to make big money in the market and the other is trying to decipher ancient Jewish texts and thinks our mathematician can help. Meanwhile, he wants no part of any of these people.

Our hero, the numbers freak, thinks the entire world revolves around numbers. Everything in the universe, he thinks, can be figured out through number codes. Not only is he wacked and paranoid but so is about everyone in here. They all have strange ideas. Innovative camera-work makes the story even stranger. In fact, it's that photography that makes this DVD a part of my collection

If you're looking for something different here and there, I would give this curiosity piece a quick look. (It's not a long movie.) Overall, I thought this "added up" to an intriguing film, but if you give it a try and hate it, don't blame me.