pretentious

Rating: Null/10 (8 August 2004)

-may be a spoiler-
Pi. Wow. Just by the title, one can tell how silly this is. This is a film that is trying too hard, which is why it became such a popular movie in the cult genre. I often find that, when I am talking to someone about movies, and they say that "pi" or something like it is their favorite film, I know what they are trying to do. They want me to think they are intellectuals, or different in some way or another. However, they are far from it, like "pi". I am not some of the people that wrote negative reviews on the movie because they thought it was unrealistic or didn't make sense or whatever. Rather, I am saying that I can understand what Aronofsky was thinking, and what he was trying so desperately to do, and I saw right through it. Should I call a movie good simply because it is different? Absolutely not. That is not what makes a film good.
David Lynch is my favorite director. He is able to inspire some sort of fantastic feeling in all of his films. He understands the film medium and knows how to create a world that is so distant yet so familiar by looking below the surface of about every environment imaginable. He has proven the fact that, as Stan Brakhage puts it, "the eye is an extension of the brain".
Now, why is "pi" a failure? Because it is trying to create by distorting things the wrong way, to the point where it becomes ridiculous. The most obvious example being the grainy, black and white cinematography. Does the movie really need to be excessively grainy? No. Of course not. And one may think of it as expressionistic or meaningful, but I don't. I just think that Darren Aronofsky is trying to be a member of a certain group of underground filmmakers, which is understandable because it is his first feature.
If you want to see a film that is less accessible but more powerful than pi, see Eraserhead. I understand that everybody links the two, but maybe it is for a good reason. As for Aronofsky's latest film, Requiem for a Dream, I think the same way. Sure, the acting is magnificent, but step back and look at the film. With Requiem, Aronofsky is TRYING to upset us, and does it by constantly and constantly sending us spiraling down with the characters. Sorry, but I dislike that motive as well.