Review of Pi (1998) by Jackson L — 25 Nov 2012

This masterpiece begins with an extreme close up of the main character, Max, bleeding from his nose. As he wakes up to go and wash his face in front of a dingy mirror, he explains that when he was six years old, he stared into the sun despite the warnings from his mother. Then, after the bandages were removed from his eyes, the migraines started.

Max is a brilliant and deeply reclusive mathematician. He outlines his belief that mathematics is the language of nature, and that patterns exist everywhere in the world. His latest project/obsession is monitoring the stock market to see if any patterns emerge. Max is really a textbook recluse: he shuts himself away in a tiny, insanely cluttered apartment and has to peer through a peephole in the door before he can even think about undoing his ridiculous array of locks. He huddles before his homemade supercomputer, an incoherent mass of random computer parts, while rapidly pounding in outrageous mathematical code. Despite his commitment, Max could be a lot more productive without his overwhelming migraines: he frantically pounds his head and injects various extreme doses of pain killers into his arm. But Max's life takes another turn when his computer spits out a mysterious 216-digit number. Is this number simply a random computer bug, or is it the answer to an unbelievable secret that both stock market investors and a group of Hasidic Jews are willing to kill for?... And what about his increasingly bizarre hallucinations?...

This film definitely has an intriguing story, some spectacular acting and an ingeniously disorienting score, but the greatest factor that makes Pi such a masterwork is the absolutely gorgeous filming. In fact, I doubt the movie could have actually worked without it. Everything is shot in a gritty, stunning, ultra high-contrast black and white. The cinematography is at times blindingly frenetic, flashing from one grainy city scape to another for the insane chase scenes. Every shadow and texture is breath-taking and fully realized. I mean seriously, this kind of incredible beauty should set the standard for every art film. And of course there's some extreme close-up shots of pitch-black ants against the flood of a white background.

PI is my favorite movie ever.