Pi

Rating:
Summary: Riveting film
Review: I have seen this film several times and I have given it as a gift to many of my friends.

As a programmer, I can appreciate Max's obsessive drive to find the patterns that lie behind everything around us. Within them is the key to understanding the structure of the universe.

Max discovers through his study of pi, a number that is part of the fabric of the universe, that he may have found the true name of God. In almost all ancient religions, knowing the true name of a god can bring you into that god's presence and, in some cases, give you that god's powers. It does not, however, reduce God to a mere equation anymore than a name reduces any of us to a series of letters. It's a name.

There are others who suspect that Max has discovered God's name and want to use it for their own selfish ends. In the end, Max, a Cohenim, proves that he was the one destined to discover it, because he was the only one pure enough to do what was necessary to protect it.

This is a wonderful, riveting film. I recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Another hole in the head movie
Review: Pi was a great film, one of three hole in the head movies. Released at around the same time as American beauty and Fight club, Pi is another movie that questions the intricacies of our world, but in this one, much less of a social question is posed.

Rating:
Summary: No Good Film
Review: I hated this terrible movie. It is not good at all. The only good part of this movie was that it was in B&W. It was very wierd and in my opinion a bad movie.

Rating:
Summary: Search For Structure
Review: I am not a mathematician. However, I can usually see how things work, the schematics, the overall structure of something. Looking for the structure of a thing,the theory, the pattern, is something that fascinates me. It is part of the work I do. This film is therefore very appealing to me. No, a better word is compelling. The young man in this film is searching for a (or THE)pattern, the structure of random numbers, the web inherent in Chaos theory. Other, more selfish people in the film try to use the protaginist, but those people are also searching. The Hasidic man is searching for the structure of the Deity, the numeric key to the name of G-d. The stock broker is searching for the overall numeric pattern of the Market. All seek an explanation, born out of Wonder. So, I can't bring myself to dislike any of the people in the film who are searching for the Answer, the Structure. All of us, to a greater or lesser degree, are searching for answers, the why of things. The search for the why or how of things is what enobles men and women. As a Buddhist, I should say "the path is the Goal," but that is too pat an answer, even if it is correct. This film is a wonderful examination of our shared obsession of Seeking. It explores both the depth of mind and the limitation of Mind. It is as engrossing and compelling a film as any I've ever seen. I recommend it. It deserves (and requiries) more than one viewing.

Rating:
Summary: GREAT
Review: Darren Aronofsky is a genius!!! This movie along with Requiem for a Dream are two of the best movies I've ever seen.

Rating:
Summary: 3.14234124523 means if you wack it too much you'll go blind!
Review: I love this movie. It's black and white and the total budget of this film can't even buy you a new BMW which in my opinion is amzing since directors now need a hefty sum of cash as a comforter when they are making films but this is a totally different situation. This movie deals with a theory that has existed for thousands of years but know there is a film that finally highlights the theory in itslef and the troubles it can ensue for someone if they try to find out the truth or patterns behind the one and only unknown math nomily - pi. A good movie and a definite underground classic!

Rating:
Summary: INTENSE AND MAKES YOU THINK YOUR A BIG [FOOL}!!!
Review: Woo-ha! When someone goes to the lengths seen in Pi to get to whatever he believes is a step closer to discovering a pattern in a number that has exsisted for years and years, all you can do is watch and wait till the end cause I bet you will. It is a movie that is ONE OF A KIND and nothing has been seen like it for a while. Cool movie with cool characters and an out of this world story that wraps around itself around something that would make kids in math class frown. Hoo-ha

Rating:
Summary: Black and White dud
Review: The movie is not worth the hype it's gotten from some of the so-called literary critics. This black and white low budget offering is too dark for most and incomprehensible to all but the most sadistic of "intellectual" types. Do your self a favor - flunk this math test.

Rating:
Summary: Original, excellent
Review: Low budget. Grainy black and white as you may already know from other reviews, so hardly a "movie" in the common sense of the word. Quaint sound effects. Oddball character in the lead. But boring? Not quite.

To begin with, there's a narrative which (almost) makes sense. This makes Pi an altogether more intriguing and absorbing film than David Lynch's forerunner, which was rather up its own alimentary canal anyway.

Pi is what a Prodigy video would be like if directed by someone from the Smithsonian Institute. The thumping soundtrack is extremely effective in that it is totally incongruous to the subject matter (a mathematician has a breakdown). It's rather like having The Carpenters doing a soundtrack for Rambo.

Neatly edited, thoughtful, and brave (you try making the pitch sound exciting). Stick with it for 10 minutes and you'll sit through the whole of it.

And even if you don't like it, it's only 85 minutes long. Give it a try.

Rating:
Summary: About the "Drugs"
Review: I agree with just about everybody here -- the movie's amazing. A correction on the pills, however. The pills Max is popping like raisins throughout the film are actually Midrin. In real life, they're red & white, and help keep migraineur people like me from going out in search of a nice, sharp guillotine. The pneumatic hypodermic is probably some version of egotamine (he mentions dihydroergotamine mesylate in that long list of therapies). These days, an inhaler has replaced the injections (or suppositories), which is nice, but that injection dohickey does look so much more stylish.

So, it's not quite accurate to talk about "drug abuse" in this movie, although I will grant that at the levels Max is using all those vasoconstrictors, he's lucky his toes haven't fallen off.

(And, yes, I have started playing Go since watching the movie about 20 times. And reading up on Mandelbrot sets. Wish Aronofsky would do a movie about tax return preparation...)