Pi (DVD)

"11.15 Restate my assumptions. 1. Mathematics is the language of nature 2. Everything around us can be represented and understood through numbers 3. If you graph these numbers, patterns emerge..." - Max Cohen in the film Pi Plot Summary Pi (1998) is a dark, compelling and savage short film. It explores the downward spiral into insanity (or truth?) of a gifted maths genius. Max Cohen (Sean Gullette) is a reclusive visionary whose talents emerged after he stared at the sun as a child. Now he is employing his genius in a quest to identify the pattern of numbers that connects all living things - from disease epidemics ...  Read the complete review

The world of film is now, for the most part, a place driven very much by the corporate ethos. Films aimed at the young American audience are considered the most profitable, and profits are considered the most important aspect of the movie industry, and hence films aimed at the (perceived) limited intellect or attention-span of this target audience are now the norm. Unfortunately, this is especially the case in science fiction filmmaking, and the past five years have seen a slew of unambitious and production line-style projects hit the multiplexes, inducing nothing but yawns and groans of disappointment from the majority of serious moviegoers — serious moviegoers, ...  Read the complete review

note: also appears in part on Flixster and The Student Room PI is the film that shot director Darren Aronofsky to fame and allowed him to direct his better films Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain, and The Wrestler most recently. It's a thrilling psycho noir that shows a lot of promise from a now huge director, with lots of hints of directors such as David Lynch and even Fritz Lang. The film revolves around Max Cohen (Sean Gullette), a young mathematician who believes that numbers can be used to explain everything in life, from very simply things to the nature of our existence. He is currenly attempting to apply it to the stock market, looking for ...  Read the complete review

Darren Aronofsky's award winning debut of '98 is simply a brilliant example of a masterpiece on a budget. Full emphasis is on the story and the feelings, and nothing else; which is exactly what every film should give atleast. This spooky thriller revolves around Max Cohen (Sean Gullette) a troubled man, after allegedly an ill advised stare at the sun as a boy, who descends into wanting to find a pattern in chaos; most notably in the ultimate system that is the stock market. A lifelong quest. It's this search that sees Cohen descend into madness only slightly sedated by drugs, and then even propelled even more; some of the scenes in between ...  Read the complete review

A directorial debut from Darren Aronofsky, this film is a delectable piece of cinema. Touted as an art house film, it has so much more to offer to a wider audience. The basic plot is easy to follow for people who require entertaining eye candy, but the subtleties of the underlying plot are engaging and stimulating Made on a shoe string, the total production costs are alleged to have been no more than $60,000. Focussing on Maximilian Cohen ( Sean Gullette ), as an introspective genius who stared at the sun when he was six, as the main character, from the start viewers are introduced to his hallucinations. A number theorist working on a mathematical ...  Read the complete review