Review of Pi (1998) by Grant J — 21 Jun 2016

I really like watching weird films. It's interesting to see all the imagination that Directors can put into their films. In fact, Eraserhead (1977) is one of my favorite films of all time. Seeing that Pi was a low budget debut film, I was curious what Aronofsky would be able to do with it, because I heard that it looked very good despite its budget. The film looked very good, and I found it to be a very interesting film.

A paranoid mathematician named Max attempts to find a pattern in the Stock market which will also unlock the universal patterns found in nature. However, hallucinations continue to hinder his path and as the film continues on, it becomes more difficult to tell what's real and what isn't.

Max goes through internal and external conflict in the film. His internal struggles are the hallucinations he experiences and the first phase of a deterioration of his body starting with a bump on his head. These symptoms often come into effect when he's at crucial points in his objective. If he's getting info from Lennie, he might have to rush home before it takes its toll on him. Also, if he's attempting to find the 216 digit number on his computer, the hallucinations and pain can make him lose his mind, scream at the top of his lungs, or try to destroy his equipment in a fit of range. If the hallucinations didn't effect his experiments, one could argue that they felt a little tacked on. However, director Darren Aronofsky was able to work them into the conflict he faced in the film, and he avoided having them feel gratuitous.

The external conflict he encounters mainly comes into the film near the latter portion of the film. When it happens, it changes the film entirely, and it makes a lot of events make sense which we saw earlier in the film. It's a very interesting way of showing you how his simple task turned into something much, much more. It also makes the ambiguity of the films ending have a great impact on the viewer and it leaves you thinking about it, and what exactly Max did. The film takes a common weird trope for weird films, hallucinations, and it creates conflict in the film out of it.

The hallucinations in the film are really well-done. The main reason why they work so good is because we are able to feel Max's pain during them. The sudden and striking sound effects which the viewer hears plays a main role at making the viewer feel these unpleasant emotions with Max. Sounds can sometimes effect our emotions more than visuals. You could always remove the sound and hope for the viewer to connect the dots at what the protagonist is feeling. However, a simple loud sound effect can frighten the viewer even more. This movie does a really good job at using this technique to terrify the viewer who's watching the film.

Having a low budget can really take a viewer out of the movie if the director is not thrifty. Poor scenery and effects can be a real withdrawer and it can kill immersion quickly. However, despite having such a minuscule budget, the effects and scenery looked top notch. The computers and the setup of Max's room that Max uses look convincing and realistic, and since there's so many machines around his apartment which look high-tech, it looks like a believable work station for something so complicated that he's doing. Also, the effects looked very good as well. They looked realistic for a low-budget film, and they still hold up today pretty well. It's a great trait for a director to be able to do so much with so little. That's exactly what Aronofsky did here, and by doing so, he proved that he was a talented director.

When some people watch a movie, they often like to kick back and relax. This movie doesn't let you. Sometimes, the movie can be hard to watch at times. It's not for everyone. Some people dislike Eraserhead for that reason. However, I love these kinds of films. I love the sprightly feelings that they evoke from the viewer. I feel like I can revisit them again and again, and every time I do so, they still impress me as much, if not, more than my first viewing.