An interesting, if maybe flawed film

Rating: 7/10 (7 February 2010)

I gave this move a 7. 7 = 2^2+3
Which of course is the whole point of arithmomania, the obsessive compulsion with numbers. Numbers only have meaning because we assign it to them, and so rudimentary is their meaning that it is easy to build any complex result you need to from them. There is a great history in just such interpretation as it relates to spiritual matters. For some reason, numbers and their relationships touch something deep in our own pattern recognition systems. In some people, that mechanism spins out of control resulting in faulty reasoning, obsession and/or outright delusion.
In that regard this movie and the movie "a beautiful mind" both touch on similar subjects, though from a very different perspective. As far as we know, the main character in this movie descends into obsession and paranoid, but never out-right hallucination.
Which, in some ways, is too bad, because hallucination could explain what are otherwise some questionable coincidences in this film. The denouement of this movie is when the main character tells us "there is no fate, just the choices we make." And one could see this as his return to sanity. But without either fate or delusion, the movie hinges on a bit too many random circumstances to make decent sense.
From what we see of the construction of "the book" there is only, and can only be, one copy. It contains hand written notes and pictures that were cut out of newspapers and pasted in. Yet this one, lone copy finds its way into the hands of the one person it could effect by seeming random chance. That alone is odd. But what such an amateurish looking work was doing in a used bookstore to begin with also makes little sense... It would be about as likely as them buying your freshman history notebook.
Ned the dog is also a prime mover of the plot. But this again is far too much coincidence. Why should the dog keep showing up at key moments . In the end, even though our protagonist tells us there is no fate, the hand of god is pretty much essential in making this story happen as it does. And that, in the end, is a rather confusing flaw.
I would have given this movie more stars if it had been clearer in its conclusion. It is still a fascinating piece of film making, but the muddled ending detracts from what otherwise could have been a very strong work.