AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Blucher One of the worst movies I've ever seen

Marva-nova Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

keithfranklinfowler From all the hype I expected something worthy of the awards and nominations it has claimed. PI is a well made, well-paced film, always hinting that something significant will be revealed. No, it won't. Some reviewers were impressed by the obsession displayed by the Max character, but I thought it an ordinary day's work for the actor. It certainly is not enough to hold it all together. The one true statement of the movie is spoken by Sol, when he says (paraphrasing), " Once you abandon scientific rigor, you are no longer a mathematician; you're a numerologist." I guess I'm just not interested in numerology.

elijahcrawford-33807 It's fitting that this should be Darren's debut work, seeing as how this is the first of his filmography that I'm personally seeing. The film itself is alright, but there are things that hold it back.The pros specifically lie in the film's style and direction. The grainy black and white aesthetic compliment the oppressive and obsessive tone of the film. And the same goes for Darren's directing. While I personally wouldn't call it anything 'groundbreaking', the composition of the shots themselves are great and again play along with the film's tone and theme of obsession and paranoia.The film's cons however lie in its writing and structure. The film's structure is scatterbrained to say the least. While the story isn't difficult to follow, the way the story is presented and concepts that are dotted throughout make the film a bit harder to process. And the surrealist elements while not exactly intrusive don't really help alleviate this confusion. The writing as well isn't really much to write home about, and in some instances can be written off as pretentious.As I said before "Pi" was my introduction to Darren Aronofsky's works and from what I've seen, I can't really say that I'm too impressed. Granted I have yet to see "Requiem" or the highly controversial "mother!", so hopefully my mind will change then. The central idea of this film is certainly fascinating despite its loose math, and based on the direction and style alone is certainly worth a watch or two.

thor-teague Darren Aronofsky's first feature, Pi, is an overly ambitious undertaking suffering fatally from a number of different problems. Pi is more a psychological character portrait than anything--it fails as a thriller. The narrative overall is barely enough to keep me interested--and has little to no replay value for me.Max, a paranoid mathematician, is searching for a numerical formula that will express all the patterns of life and seeks to 'crack the code' of the universe. It is, in so many words, a quest for the Ark of the Covenant. It is not impossible to do this film, I don't think, but I do think Pi has failed.I did enjoy the style and felt it worked well. Stark lighting, manic cuts and camera operation, and surreal audio all add to the psycho paranoia that could have made this a great movie. It doesn't have a whole lot of technical flaws, in fact outside of the acting probably none.But the flaws are dealbreakers. The film's Achilles's heel is definitely its delusions of grandeur. Perhaps I've misinterpreted something--but the film seems to think its correct?! The Grand Unifying Theory of Everything? Nobody knows (yet), but I promise you it is not an inexplicable 216 digit integer. You are thinly veiling mysticism and numerology as science. The easiest way to solve this problem in the context of Pi, drop the bubblegum pop pseudoscience and, if you want to pretend that he found the correct Grand Unifying Theory of Everything, just leave it to the imagination. It should have been a complete MacGuffin. Or, make it clearer that Max is just plain bonkers. The film seems to believe its own drivel. Make it about Max's descent into insanity, and you've got a potentially good story. It may be successfully arguable that the film doesn't believe itself and is trying to portray Max as insane, but that's looking like a stretch from where I stand.The next thing is the bad acting from the supporting cast. Everything was at least working for me until the conspirators' trap was sprung, at which point I had to start wondering, "Are you kidding?" Overall my suspension of disbelief just fell like a house of cards at this point. Please note that I do however feel that Sean Gullette's performance was quite convincing and worked well throughout.And finally, I didn't care for the soundtrack. It hasn't aged as well as other successful electronica soundtracks of its day. Overall I have to describe Pi as being both self-righteous and pretentious.

D' Francis This is a love letter to pure mathematics, but you don't need to be a math expert to love it. Although the advertising for this one makes it seem like a cryptic mind-bender, it's less focused on plot twists and more focused on frantic emotions.The main character is a recluse mathematician who is very sick, barely gets sleep and relies on amphetamines to push himself to his limits of cracking the one formula that's the solution to the world. Of course, he is guided by his old wise mentor who practices his mathematical algorithms in the seemingly simple but very complex game of Go.As an indie film, it doesn't have grand locales, CGI or big-budget action, which is a good thing. It conveys tension purely in it's direction and editing. The black and white visuals are key to this film's striking visual presentation and in how it conveys tension ; They are heavily saturated and contrasted during the most thrilling moments to represent a break away from reality.