Pi (1998)
Directed by Darren Aronofsky
A mathematical genius discovers a link between numbers and reality, and thus believes he can predict the future.
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8 films that influenced Pi
What critics say influenced Pi
Aronofsky's startlingly original debut recalls the inspirational fervour of Eraserhead, as it constructs a paranoid vision from b/w cinematography, a pounding score, and flashes of sheer hallucinatory weirdness.
To get an idea of the director in case you have never seen him before, imagine the cinematography originality of Jim Jarmusch's Stranger than Paradise mixed with the perfect dialogue of Kevin Smith 's Clerks and the bizarre and cryptic storyline of David Lynch's Eraserhead .
Aronofsky's rapid cutting keeps the pace up and many of his visuals are genuinely unsettling - Max's hallucinations during his brutal headaches are reminiscent of David Lynch's equally disturbing feature debut " Eraserhead ".
It's a bizarre premise, and the film's odd black-and-white look recalls David Lynch's surreal fantasy "Eraserhead."
Anyway, it was here that 28-year-old Darren Aronofsky earned the Filmmakers Award and plenty of critical acclaim for Pi, a sort of mad scientist psychodrama shot through with the grisly speed of the Japanese cyberpunk shocker Tetsuo and the DIY dread of David Lynch 's Eraserhead.
Aronofsky relies too much on surreal nods to David Lynch’s "Eraserhead" when he could have explored more of the social implications of pi.
Even at 85 minutes the film is a little long -- it seems at times like an overbaked and repetitious Jorge Luis Borges story, when it would have made a brilliant short along the lines of Chris Marker's La jetée.
To get an idea of the director in case you have never seen him before, imagine the cinematography originality of Jim Jarmusch's Stranger than Paradise mixed with the perfect dialogue of Kevin Smith 's Clerks and the bizarre and cryptic storyline of David Lynch's Eraserhead .
The near-hallucinatory middle stretch of "Pi" calls to mind director Adrian Lyne's "Jacob's Ladder," one of the spookiest portraits of city life ever.
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Like the cyber-villains Captain Kirk vanquishes on the original Star Trek ("The Changeling," "The Ultimate Computer"), Euclid blows a gasket, but not before spitting out a page-long, seemingly arbitrary series of numbers.
Oddly, this is also the underlying premise of the two Jurassic Park movies, proving that certain concepts are universal.
[Pi] could be a cybergeek version of Taxi Driver.
To get an idea of the director in case you have never seen him before, imagine the cinematography originality of Jim Jarmusch's Stranger than Paradise mixed with the perfect dialogue of Kevin Smith 's Clerks and the bizarre and cryptic storyline of David Lynch's Eraserhead .