Hmmm....

Rating: 5/10 (24 December 2001)

As a 5 minute music video Pi would be great. As a 45 minute student film it would be a solid effort.But it needlessly allowed itself to grow into a full length feature film, without enough substance to justify even a mere 85 minutes.
Plot? Main character Max is obsessed with numbers and is trying to "decode" the world. That is, he studies nature's patterns believing them to be a gateway to the meaning of life (and stockmarket trends). Max has very little interaction with other people. He has multiple paranoid locks on his apartment door and spends most of his time crunching numbers on his computer. Oh, and he is plagued with agonizing headaches.
Pi is shot in a high contrast black-and-white film, has quick editing and lots of techno music. It all perfectly conveys Max's paranoid frantic thoughts. But until the final scene, nothing ever evolves in the movie. The story is at a stand-still, consisting mainly of Max occasionally narrating his new theories, Max having a migraine, or Max walking briskly down the city sidewalks. There is a subplot with corporate monsters and a religious sect each trying to exploit Max's talents, but these scenes felt like they were tacked on to fill out the running time.
For the record, I am not a fan of movies that contain lots of explosions-yes, I can think. But after awhile Pi seemed very gimmicky, especially the hyperactive camerawork.
"But it's just so darn indie!", people tell me. Well, that's not what they really say. But I bet that's what they're thinking. Anyway, I give Pi a 5 out of 10. Worth seeing once for its unusual presentation, just don't get your hopes up too high.
Oh yes, my favorite part of the movie is when Max's mentor criticizes Max for being obsessed with finding the number 216. The older guy tells Max that if he wants to find the number, he will make himself see it everywhere (216 feet from here to the end of the street, 216 steps on a flight of stairs, etc.). "you will have ceased to be a mathematician, and become a numerologist!". That made me chuckle. And if any of your friends are astrologists or numerologists you might laugh, too.