Pi (1998)

Darren Aronofsky's Pi popped out while I was searching for films to watch for the 31 Days of Horror challenge. I decided I'd watch it as I've been meaning to check out more of Aronofsky's work. I soon realised it was not a horror but I still kept watching as I told myself I would post the review in the future and here it is, weeks later.

The film follows Max Cohen (Sean Gullette), a brilliant but paranoid mathematician and computer genius who seeks mathematical patterns in everything. He is convinced everything in nature can be explained through mathematics and that, given the correct mathematical formula, you can predict an understand everything, and so he spends every second of his time to find it.

At first, it seems to be a very interesting story but unfortunately, as it develops, too many unnecessary things are thrown in there and not only it's distracting from the main plot, that being the character's descent into madness, but it's also quite annoying --the subplots about corporate monsters and a religious sect don't add much to the film and feel forced as if they were added to lengthen the running time.

The characters either didn't fully work for me. They are too shallow to care about and not interesting enough to engage, specifically the main character, Max. Aronofsky was doing good with him but then he decided to give him a little backstory, tell us he has violent migraines as a result of staring at the sun when he was a kid. I thought those headaches were the result of Max's obsession and desire to find and figure out patterns everywhere, and Aronofsky should have kept it that way. Explaining why he has this condition is like saying, Max is obsessed but not so obsessed to get sick because of it, and, because of this, it feels like the film tries to go in a different direction. I hope this makes sense.

Despite the weak script, the cast does a pretty good job. Sean Gullette gives a believable and almost gripping performance as Max Cohen, the mathematician on the edge of insanity, and Mark Margolis is excellent as Max's mentor, Sol Robeson.

Artisan Entertainment

The other aspect of Pi that stands out is the direction. While the script didn't really work for me --and I'm not even sure what the film is supposed to mean, which is something I often struggle with when it comes to Aronofsky--, the direction is pretty good. The camera work is very interesting and inventive and it captures very well Max's descent into madness. The grainy black and white cinematography reminds a lot that of David Lynch's Eraserhead and, although at times the overexposure is too intense and kinda annoying, it works most of the time. The quick editing works well too and so does the fast-paced techno music.