A Totally Different Sci-Fi Movie!

Rating: 9/10 (9 October 2008)

Darren Aronofsky has without a doubt created the most different and unique movie of our times. The movie is shot in a completely unique way, the direction is completely fresh and so is the story, imagery, acting and plot. This movie takes us inside the mind of a mathematician who has taken his passion for studying numbers to a point of obsession. He sees numbers and patterns everywhere and is convinced that he can find the key to everything in the universe inside numbers. The movie is about his journey from a passion to a madness that eventually starts tormenting him.
Sean Gullette plays a wonderful role as a mathematician Max who is working on number theory. He has his own computer in an apartment where he lives alone. He spends the day in and day out searching for patterns in numbers especially in the stock market. He is convinced that the whole of nature follows a pattern in numbers and knowing this pattern, he can understand nature to the fullest which in short means that he can find a way to even predict the outcome of the stock market. But here is a catch. He is not a normal human being. He suffers from neurological conditions and is on heavy dose of drugs that he uses to alleviate his pain that he experiences in the head when he stresses out himself.
Another very important character of the movie is Max's mentor. His name is Sol. He himself has worked on the origins and importance of "Pi" and has faced the consequences of the madness one can experience when he becomes too obsessed with numbers. He advises Max to stop thinking about the patterns. He is of the view that once you have decided to seek a pattern, you will always find it since your mind cannot think of anything other than patterns. The movie shows debates and conflicts of interest between him and Max.
What can be disappointing for most viewers in the movie is that which part of the movie is inside Max's head and which part of it is outside is something that the movie does not bother to make clear. The movie simply explores the mind of the paranoid and obsessive mathematician. But how much does the mathematician see that is in concurrence with the reality defined by others? This is the answer that the movie does not provide and nor does it offer enough clues to make intelligent guesses about it. Another drawback in the movie is that it is misleading in representation of some of its facts. But that is not too big a problem since I am sure most viewers will resort to the right sources and not the movie if they want to know about the various patterns of numbers that the characters talk about.
There is some really creative imagery in the movie. At one point of time, Max sees a brain in front of him. When he tries to poke a certain part of it, he hears whistles of a train. And pressing it harder, he sees a train heading right for him clearly demonstrating how the brain plays a significant role in defining your reality. The movie is about Max's reality as his mind sees it. Truly one of the most remarkable and intelligent movies I have seen in a long time.