Can you make a good thriller out of mathematics? You bet!

Rating: 9/10 (24 February 2008)

What an amazing piece of film-making, all on a shoestring budget! And from such odd beginnings, too. The idea that you could make an exciting, tense, and thought-provoking film based around mathematical computations is absurd. But this is exactly what the filmmakers created with "Pi".
Although the math clearly takes a focal point in the story, it's really just a vehicle for investigating what happens when a man gone mad. Paranoia, obsession, aggravation, grief, with tiny bits of joy (as shown by his interactions with a little girl): all parts of a man descending into insanity. So brilliantly crafted by the writer, so brilliantly portrayed by the actor, it's this descent that makes "Pi" so fascinating.
This is a film that uses symbolism to the Nth degree. This is the closest thing an American has ever gotten to an Ingmar Bergman film. You've got science, and religion, and philosophy, and the origins of universe, and the essence of thought, and the stuff of life. The film is just chock-full of suggestions on all of these things.
In the end, we aren't entirely sure what happened to to the main character. Did he suffer a debilitating attack, thereby losing his genius? Or was he cured of his affliction, of which genius was only a symptom? In the end, there is a question on an old adage. If there is a fine line between genius and insanity, is the corollary that there is a wide split between genius and happiness? This film surely suggests that.
Overall, a deep, thoughtful piece. Shot on a shoestring, so don't expect much in terms of film quality. But it's a fine work nonetheless.