My First DVD Review: Pi

Rated R
1998
Runtime 85 min

My Rating 8/10

The first thing that you notice about this movie is it's filming style. Director Darren Aronofsky chose to film the movie in black and white with a grainy aged look. This look almost draws you in to Max's (Main Character) dark and dreary existance. Max, a mathematician, believes that everything in the universe follows a pattern and can be represented in numbers. His pet project at which he takes no breaks from day in and day out is his attempt at predicting the stock market but this ultimate attempt leads down a dangerous path. Max also deals with constant headaches and bloody noses which happen at random. All while this is going on Max is pursued by a Wall Street firm to use his knowledge for their own gain. At the same time a member of a Kaballah sect begins his pursuit of Max as well, but to convert him. In his conversations he shows Max about the numbers that underly their texts. One day Max's computer crashes as he prints out some future predictions on stock quotes and a string of 216 numbers that he believes is a glitch. He later finds out that the stock quotes are correct but he didn't keep the digits. He also finds out the Kaballah are trying to decode their texts for a string of 216 characters (which translates to 216 numbers). Max sees this as a sign and trys to find the same string he already generated. With the help of the Wall Street firm giving him a new CPU to replace his broken one he finds the 216 digit string. Both the Kaballah and the Wall Street firm pursue him in attemts to get the string which they believe is the secret to both their problems. The Wall Street firm believes that this string will allow them to predict the stock market and the Kaballah believe the 216 character string is the true name of God. Max memorized the string and won't divulge it. He believes that you must understand not just the numbers but also the meanings "between the numbers". In the end the headaches, blackouts and his knowledge lead Max to literally try and remove his knowledge of the string by drilling a hole in his head...

A very powerfull movie and well made.

I definately recommend it.