Review of Pi (1998) by Victor T — 02 Jan 2015

The 90´s was the decade when three, now mayor, filmmakers made their debut: Tarantino with "Reservoir Dogs", Christopher Nolan with "Following" and Darren Aronofsky with "Pi".

Max Cohen is an antisocial mathematician who suffers from cluster headaches and paranoia. Max believes that everything that surrounds us follows a numeric pattern. Eventually Max starts to make stock market predictions and analyze mathematic patterns in the Torah, thus earning the attention of Wall Street agents and a group of Hasidic Jews, respectably, who are desperate to learn about Max´s results for their own interest.

Normally a directorial debut doesn't show the director´s abilities/ambitions due to the limitations that the low budget provides, but that is not Aronofsky´s case. "Pi" is a greatly executed psychological thriller which counts with a peculiar but intriguing story, a solid performance by Sean Gullette, intriguing ideas, memorable imagery, perfect pacing, a somewhat creepy but beautiful black and white visual style, well executed psychological themes, it completely nails the thriller part without using shootouts or chase scenes but relaying on the protagonist´s paranoia and mental state, it counts with a memorable soundtrack, ingenious cinematography, and Aronofsky´s shows his now trademark direction and the potential he has as a filmmaker with his quick montages, extreme close-ups and a fascination about the human psychology.

"Pi" is an intriguing and memorable thriller thanks to its visual style, Aronofsky´s perfectionist direction and its themes about obsession and how madness and intelligence, sometimes, go together. A must see if you love or appreciate psychological thrillers.