oh, man, this was such a cool movie (a horror film about... math? brilliant!)

Rating: 8/10 (20 April 2000)

I saw this a while back so I really can't give a very concrete review, but there are a few things I'd like to mention- first of all, yes, the math involved here is somewhat absurd... oh, but wait a minute, who goes to a feature film to LEARN ABOUT MATH? I think it's pretty sad that there are people who are so obsessive about scientific accuracy that it prevents them from enjoying a brilliant movie not really about math but about PARANOIA. In fact, this would have been a much lesser movie if the math had made any sense; it would have made Max's quest justifiable and could easily have turned this into a sappy Hollywood film (better living through mathematics/paranoid self-obsession: max figures it all out and makes millions, retires and marries the woman next door, haha, wouldn't that be fun?). Instead, it becomes an impressionistic descent into a half-hallucinated hell, and wow, when you realize what's going on, it is gripping. The grainy black and white provides the perfect palette for the film's remarkable, sometimes very frightening images, and the brilliant techno score by Clint Mansell (formerly of Pop Will Eat Itself) backs up what is certainly one of the most compelling films I've ever seen.

Well, ok, so the editing is a little too "MTV," but what did you expect?