pretentious but watchable cult flick

Rating: 7/10 (21 January 2000)

A cross between Travis Bickle, Henry Spencer (you cannot be truly hip if you don't know either), and your typical high school geek, wanders around NYC trying to find mathematical order in the universe. Along the way, he is being destroyed by his own inexplicable fits and various factions (high class businessmen, Orthodox Jews), who desire to possess the code. Upon close observation, "Pi" is not as revolutionary or original as it may seem. If anything, it recalls David Lynch's astonishing 1978 debut, also black and white. The similarities are many, there's even a "girl next door", albeit more attractive than Lynch's. But Aaronofsky is unclear on which venue to pursue, and his film walks the thin line between Avant-Garde and a contrived Thriller. That is precisely why it can't be totally cohesive or enjoyable. By the second half, the Avant-Garde visions become repetitive, and the Thriller twists all too predictable and even ludicrous. On the other hand, an intense, eeiry and captivating electronica score that captures the whole atmosphere of the movie, is of great help, and the whole premise of a genius making sense of the universe's mechanism is unique and admirable, especially in the light of today's mindless junk cinema. Flawed as it is, Pi is the only film in the past few years which makes the audience contemplate a philosophical point of view they might not be comfortable with. For that it should be praised. Those looking for a true masterpiece of surrealism should rent "Erraserhead" instead.