Pi
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Movie Reviews of Pi
Movie Review: "Pi" is the journey of a mind
Summary: 5 Stars
The movie "Pi" is the journey of a mind on a quest, one that is a naturally driven human endeavor to find those secrets of life's many meanings. "Pi" seems to have a pre-requisite need of a 150 IQ to be fully understood tho. The depth of looking for those subtle patterns in nature, can be disruptive to the psychological-dynamics of the working mind. The grainy black and white texture of the movie is not meant as a pretentiously artistic display, but meant to represent the hazy process of an obsessively focused mind working on a resolution. "Pi" is the all-encompassing and all-consuming mental state of 'Tripped Breakers', one that sits on the edge of salvation and/or insanity. In other words; A true "Twilight Zone" state of mental consciousness.If you have ever pondered on a topic that does not fit the ability of the minds capacity to understand, then you know what happens when the mind trips its breakers. The subject of a God, that always was and always will be, is a good topic to attain this state of tripped breakers. Just try to ponder on the possibility of a life force, that had no beginning or birth which will extend into infinity or will never die. Such an ad infinitum going in two directions at the same time is not a concept that can be rationalized by the finite abilities of the human mind.
You may believe in a God with no beginning or no end, but rationalizing it is another thing. Sean Gullette who plays Max Cohen, has an intuitive understanding that a pattern to the mathematical equation of Pi exists, a pattern which will explain many of the mysteries of life itself. Director Darren Aronofsky gets a triple-kudos for an excellent job of weaving this journey together with those subtle paranoias, that accompany such a mental state as 'Tripped Breakers'.
Rating: triple-kudos
Movie Review: Strange but fascinating!
Summary: 5 Stars
"Pi" is one of the most unique, original, bizarre films to come around in a long while. It's a wakeup call for people like me, who are sick and tired of the same old recycled Hollywood flicks that desperately attempt to make money with big stars and special effects, and no plot. I liked it for that reason. The other reason is that with each viewing of it, something new is uncovered. It's really well wrought. The grainy, 16mm camerawork gives it an eerie, paranoid feel to it. I also think it gives the film it's artistic qualities. There are still scenes in this film that totally leave me stuck, although I was able to comprehend some of the more bizarre hallucinatory sequences after watching them more than once. As for this DVD, it's very nice. I don't think that the picture quality will look much different from the tape, except in sharpness and an absence of tape wrinkles. Also, I hate to say, that the DVD format is the only place that "Pi" is available for purchase. The tape is over $100, and the chances of getting it on laserdisc are unlikely. This DVD has a nice array of extras, including trailers, two audio commentaries, deleted scenes(which are not hard to see why they were cut out), and a music video. I feel I should warn you, that "Pi" is not for all tastes. If you've seen the hyperkinetic style that NIN(Nine Inch Nails) music videos are shot and edited, then you'll have an idea of what "Pi" will look like. Even if you do like that stuff, the film is still very bizarre and hard to understand. However, if you want an excitingly original movie that you have to dig at and figure out like an elaborate jigsaw puzzle, then "Pi" is an absolute must!Movie Review: The most powerful cult movie of the Nineties!
Summary: 5 Stars
I don't doubt that if Orson Welles was still alive would be proud of this extraordinary film that somehow materializes just a part of the immense possibilities of expression the cinema has to offer us.
As a matter of fact, the allusive reminiscences of the Kafkaesque must be present to mirror the rudeness and the vertigo generated by two extreme positions around this math genius, who lives in a very humble apartment in Manhattan crammed with high tech devices - a sharp metaphor indeed - obsessed and extremely convinced the universe and all its included events (as the stock market) obey to unknown patterns, and so predictable. Trapped, as it were, by bouts of paranoia and crippling migraines, he must face besides the compulsive harassment of external elements, a shady brokerage firm and a Hasidic cabal interested to know about the significance of God and the number 216 which is a curious number, given the fact is the first positive integer number that may be divided exactly by the rest of the numbers from one to ten, (excepting the numbers five and seven) that gives us an idea of its wholeness as set of sets. On the other hand, 216 is multiple of 12 (216 = 18 x 12) and you know the special significance of 12 in the history (the number of Israel' s tribes, the number of members of a jury, the number of Zodiac symbols, the number of months in a year, the time of the day or night in hours, and a wide etc.
The formidable employment of black and white remarks still more the messy ambiance and adds a claustrophobic environment that reaffirms its kinetic intensity.
And please, at the moment to watch Matrix again, establish by yourself the countless dramatic resemblances.
Movie Review: True sucessor to Eraserhead and The Trial
Summary: 5 Stars
Darren Aronofsky could be called a film genius. Requiem for a Dream is considered to be one of the best movies of recent memory (and, from what I saw of it, I can agree), and has many of the same techniques as his previous film, Pi. Pi is one of those movies that you need to see many times in order to have everything sink in, but you don't really want to see it again. The images stick in your head, and it's a subconsciously terrifying experience.
Max Cohen (Sean Gullette) is a mathematical genius. He analyzes numbers, and soon recognizes a pattern in the stock market. But that doesn't satisfy him. He keeps on going, as people want to use his mathematical abilities for their own selfish reasons. Max struggles with his various mental and physiological problems as he's working with this-so much that if you watch it once you can't distinguish between reality and Max's mind.
Aronofsky makes this movie on parking meter money (less than $10,000), yet it's one of the most stylish movies of recent memory. Shot in black/white (there is barely any grey) with a type of vision that leaves edges to the imagination, Pi works in its own little world. With a short runtime that's shorter than Dennis Miller on one of his longwinded analogies, it works. The theories that the movie puts in your head are complete bull-honky, but they're presented in a way that you can't help believing.
Well acted all around, especially by Guellette, Pi is not for everyone. There's many disturbing moments, involving brains and power tools. The second-to-last scene, just so you know, was actually done, no special effects. Overall, Pi is a very good, trippy movie that's not for everyone. But if you're game, go for it!
Movie Review: pi proves to be amazing
Summary: 5 Stars
I give it five stars because I honestly enjoyed it. I can't say the audio/video quality was tops, but that wasn't the point of the film. The quality of the story was excellent, and that was the point of the film. The situations in the film were not cleanly beautiful--it was set in a dingy area and followed a disturbing story line--therefore it logically follows that the audio/video quality should be less than pristine. In the words of the Pi website, "A key to creating the world of was the futuristic soundscape created by Composer Clint Mansell, Sound Designer Brian Emrich, and host of electronic music artists, assembled by Music Supervisor Sioux Zimmerman and Producer Eric Watson. From early on, the creative team set out to achieve an ultra-modern contrast to the stark Black & White 16mm images that were going to be on the screen." They have succeeded, as the score merges fully with the video and enriches the film immeasurably by adding to its hauntingly unsettling ambience.
The plot centers around the downward "spiral" of protagonist Max Cohen as he searches for a mathematical basis for life, involving applications of the golden ratio, pi, and the chaos theory to real life, specifically the areas of the stock market and Kabbalah. The story proved to be interesting and thought provoking even outside of the actual film. At the end of Max's fascinating and devastatingly painful quest, the viewer is left with a mystery to be pondered.
In giving this film 5 stars, I refer to the amazing story, superb visual effects, and the thoughts it made me wonder about afterwards. Another moving success from director Darren Aronofsky.