Pi

From the opening credits to the end credits, Pi is a visual fiest. The way they edited the whole film makes you feel as if you're inside main character Max' head. The soundeffects and soundtrack add to this feeling as is the great camerawork. Creating a sort of chaos, director Aronofsky knows how to translate Max' state of mind perfectly to the screen by using many close-ups, first person perspective shots, and unsteady camera movement. Added to this is the strong soundtrack. Clint Mansell has done an amazing job finding the perfect soung to carry these images. Played by Sean Gullette who has a great sounding voice, you watch Max going paranoid. The only person who keeps him from going totally isane is Sol Robeson, nicely played by Mark Margolis, who also can be seen in Aronofsky's latest The Fountain as well as the highly praised Requiem For A Dream. The story is very intense, questioning the universe and taking the viewer together with Max on this search for clarity. Always trying to push the boundaries, Darren Aronofsky is someone with great ideas and vision and a unique style, which make him someone to be kept an eye on to see where he goes next.

What is it about?

Max(imillian) Cohen, a mathematisian who tries to find a way to understand all existence, lives all by himself in a small apartment full of equipment. Obsessed by numeric patterns he now tries to figure out the stock market. If everything around us can be understood from numbers, so he thinks, and patterns emerge when you graph the numbers in any systems, there must be patterns everywhere in nature. Therefore Max concludes that in stock market there also have to be numeric patterns and he's going to figure out how it all works. Having severe headaches ever since as a little six year old he stared into the sun, although his mother warned him not to, Max struggles with his mind. Because he digs into the stock market to do research on its behaviour he soon is followed by a Wall Street company. At the same time he meets Lenny Meyer, a Hasidic who is searching for a pattern consisting of 216 numbers that are to be found in the Torah and believd to be a code from God. With his mind starting to hallucinate he starts to be overtaken by all the buzzing in his head as everything seems to be closing in on him.

Final Verdict: ****1/2

A very interesting film, Pi feels like one of those music videos from the '90s. Shot in black and white, Pi stylistically gives way to Max' mind. Everyone who has seen Requiem For A Dream, knows Aronofsky is great in finding a way to express feelings through cinematic means. Pi features a lot of great scenes, like the one where Max is pinching a brain with a pen in the metro station or the scenes with max in front of his bathroom mirror. The best thing about this film is how well the audio and visuals work together. They really complement each other and give life to something that is almost impossible to capture. From start to finish Pi seems never to stand still. Constantly in motion like the mind, Pi is a very intriguing film that isn't like anything I saw before. Perfect for anyone who wants to watch a film that is different and original.