Pi

[Gendo]

Let's talk about Pi. Not on my watched list because I saw it a long time ago also, but I watched this the other day. Aronofsky is generally hit and miss with me; though a lot of it is just expecting his style going in. I can't tell if Pi is actually good, or if it's just a random mess.

As a math person, some of the math stuff in the movie is annoying. First off, he gets the value of Pi wrong when he shows the number in the beginning of the film. After the first few digits, it's just random numbers after that. It doesn't sound like he did it intentionally, so it's just not willing to do minimal research to find the real number. Then, they have characters explaining basic mathematical concepts to each other for no reason other than to fill in an audience who doesn't know anything about math. Like when Max explains the Fibonacci sequence to the other guy... he obviously should have already known that the numbers he was talking about are Fibonacci numbers.

Some of the artistic style is fun to watch; but then sometimes it just feels like he does things for no reason other than to make the movie extra artsty. And the story itself is basically not a story.

So I enjoyed watching it for the most part. I would say I like it... but I don't know if it's a masterpiece.

[Raxivace]

It's been a longass time since I've seen Pi, but I remember thinking it being a "random mess" was kind of the point of it. Its about a character who thinks they're rational but can't make sense of what's happening to them or what's going on. Its like one of the scientists from Primer found themselves lost in the nightmare world of Eraserhead.

Not sure what you mean by the story not being a story. That being said I don't think I'd call it a masterpiece either, but a good movie nonetheless. Certainly an interesting debut film.

[Eva Yojimbo]

^ I basically agree with Rax. Fun film BECAUSE it's such a random mess. I kinda prefer the Aronofsky that goes balls-out artsy and audacious to the gritty, realism Aronofsky that's just predictable and mostly boring.