Stunning, overpowering visuals

Rating: 7/10 (23 January 2001)

One of the reasons I liked Pi so much was because of the hyperactive, hallucinatory quality of Aronofsky's cinematography. The visuals make this movie as well, along with Clint Mansell returning to do yet another great, haunting film score. Not only was the camerawork excellent, but all lead performances were great. As an original and hard-hitting film, it makes its mark. It very accurately and quickly portrayed taking a hit with a few quick shots. There's a stronger emphasis on visuals than coherent story, however--I found myself concentrating on the camerawork at the expense of other aspects of the movie. Also, I could not finish watching it--during a scene where (SPOILER) Ellen Burstyn is being fed, Jared Leto and Marlon Wayans are attending to his disgustingly infected arm and Jennifer Connelly is in some sort of group sex scenario, I had to get up and leave because I thought I was going to throw up in the theater. My nausea went away as soon as I was out. I've always had problems hearing people relate medical problems and been hyper-sensitive to portrayals of pain, so that might be why (or maybe the quick cutting did it). The last time I walked out of a movie was probably in the late 80s, however, so this was very unusual. It's especially unusual because I thought it was an interesting and original film. I'd warn anyone physically susceptible to portrayals like this to wait for video, although you might miss some of the visual effects.