Pi (1998)
Pi (1998) 7/10
1998 Sundance Film Festival: Best Director (Darren Aronofsky)
Shot for only $60K, this low budget film was director Darren Aronofsky’s debut film with an audacious concept and avant garde direction. You will probably never see anything like this in your life.
In the fine line between genius and madness lies Max Cohen (played with searing intensity by Sean Gullette). Aronofsky’s Pi is a film about mathematics that isn’t boring. Its about the nature of life, about finding order in chaos. Its also an intensely cerebral experience that will leave the audience feeling cold, detached and yet strangely intrigued.
Shot entirely in grainy black and white, Pi hints of the brilliance of its director, Aronofsky and the use of techniques like quick cuts, sharp editing and of course, the Snorri-cam. The film is very arthouse, and very unconventional. The first time i watched it a few years ago, i wasn’t that impressed, because the central character of Max remains an enigma and the audience never bonds or connects with him. On my second viewing, i appreciated it much more. There are many ways to interpret the film, but seeing it as how one man’s obsession brings him closer to madness is the one i like. The Icarus allegory in the film is very apt: the very brilliance of Max’s character threatens to overwhelm him, and his attempt to find order in the chaos of numbers ironically threatens to turn his world into an upheaval.
While i didn’t quite like the ending, and felt that the film experience was too detached, Pi nevetheless remains a challenging and powerfully original piece of filmmaking that will provoke as much as it initiates conversations. This is what A Beautiful Mind wants to be.
“Aronofsky’s command over the viewer in “Pi” is uncomfortable but irresistibly seductive. He overtly manipulates every impression that comes off the screen.”- SPLICEDWIRE
“The film “Pi'’ is a study in madness and its partner, genius.”-Ebert
“Pi is a stark and hypnotic little black-and-white independent movie that has more brains in it than an entire summer of Hollywood junk. Yeah, I love the Hollywood junk too, but sometimes your brain needs a meal too”- Scott Weingberg
