Pi (1998)

Want to see it?

Seen it?

0
1
2
3
4
5
Rate this movie.

Buy it now on DVD

Starting at $10.32

Want to buy it?

Write a review

Discuss it

Add to lists

Recommend it

Get recommendations

Watch trailer

Directed by Darren Aronofsky.

Starring Mark Margolis, Stephen Pearlman, Pamela Hart, Sean Gullette, Ben Shenkman.

Watch trailer

Darren Aronofsky scripted and made his directorial debut with this experimental feature with mathematical plot threads hinting at science-fictional elements. In NYC's Chinatown, recluse math genius Max (Sean Gullette) believes "everything can be understood in terms of numbers," and he looks for a pattern in the system as he suffers headaches, plays Go with former teacher Sol Robeson (Mark Margolis), and fools around with an advanced computer system he's built in his apartment. Both a Wall Street company and a Hasidic sect take an interest in his work, but he's distracted by blackout attacks, hallucinations, and paranoid delusions. Filmed in 16mm black-and-white, the Kafkaesque film features music by Clint Mansell (of the UK's Pop Will Eat Itself band). Shown at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival where Aronofsky won the drama directing award. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

[more]

Reviews and discussions

Re:Top 5 weirdest movies
by indieabby88 in Top 5

hasn't rated it.

"[quote user="Smooth_J"] Surreal, absurd, disturbing, or just plain strange movies. I got this idea from a discussion on IMDB, and I believe some movie website or magazine released a list of the top 20 a while back. In terms of overall weirdness, here it goes: 1. Un Chien Andalou The old Bunuel-Dali collaboration. This had me at the part where the eye gets sliced with a razor-blade. It is quite possibly one of the most disturbing images I have ever seen, and it was made in 1929. It is almost unsettlingly bizarre. This easily takes the cake at a whopping 16 minutes. Watching this film makes you realize how warped the human mind can be, and it's amazing. It is where every David Lynch film is originated, and really where the surrealist genre was created. 2. Eraserhead Not much about this film can be explained that hasn't already been said a million times. It is adequate to say that never has anything like it ever been seen, and it began a long and illustrious career of night ... " [More]

Top 5 weirdest movies
by Smooth_J in Top 5

loved it.

"Surreal, absurd, disturbing, or just plain strange movies. I got this idea from a discussion on IMDB, and I believe some movie website or magazine released a list of the top 20 a while back. In terms of overall weirdness, here it goes: 1. Un Chien Andalou The old Bunuel-Dali collaboration. This had me at the part where the eye gets sliced with a razor-blade. It is quite possibly one of the most disturbing images I have ever seen, and it was made in 1929. It is almost unsettlingly bizarre. This easily takes the cake at a whopping 16 minutes. Watching this film makes you realize how warped the human mind can be, and it's amazing. It is where every David Lynch film is originated, and really where the surrealist genre was created. 2. Eraserhead Not much about this film can be explained that hasn't already been said a million times. It is adequate to say that never has anything like it ever been seen, and it began a long and illustrious career of nightmares and dreamscapes. 3 ... " [More]

Criterion Predictions
by leeroy711 in Criterion Collection

loved it.

"From the Criterion FAQ page: How does Criterion decide which films receive the “Criterion Treatment”? We aim to reflect the breadth of filmed expression. We try not to be restrictive or snobby about what kinds of films are appropriate. An auteur classic, a Hollywood blockbuster, and an independent B horror film each has to be taken on its own terms. All we ask is that each film in the collection be an exemplary film of its kind. Of course we can’t just pick movies and put them out. The process of getting the rights to release a film can take years. Even if we want a film, we can’t work on it unless the film’s owners grant us the rights. Why so few films from South Asia or China?”—and we’re continually working to fill those gaps. So, we've got the discussion of which films we think should get the treatment. Are there any films you guys think will get the treatment. It also seems that Criterion releases titles that typically don't a ... " [More]

Re:Pick a Pair
by leeroy711 in Movie Games

loved it.

"Cube followed by Pi These films both prove that math is evil. " [More]

A strange comparison
by Smooth_J in Smooth_J Blog

loved it.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. [What do you think?]
"I recently saw Eraserhead, after months of waiting for it come back into stock on Amazon.com, and I loved it. It was, without a doubt, the strangest film I've ever seen, surpassing anything I've seen as of yet by far. I watched it with my sister, and she was actually disturbed for several days after watching it and I felt really bad...especially since I found it so amazing. Throughout the film, I kept thinking whether or not it was good that I saw the extremely similar Pi before I had seen Eraserhead. Pi is a very obvious tribute to this movie in more ways than one, and in more ways than the extremely obvious black and white (15mm?) film and the general surreal, bizarre tones. Both films are centered around a misfit, probably early 20s, disillusioned male in worlds and societies that neither of them can really even begin to understand. They both live in small, secluded inner-city apartments with very sexy neighbors that they are obviously very attracted to but are too scared t ... " [More]

Thought Provoking Science Fiction
by unclefestering in unclefestering Blog

hasn't rated it.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. [What do you think?]
"Primer isn't a movie that tries to reach the lowest common denominator in terms of audience. It expects you to meet its concepts. And for those that do there is a great payoff. Four engineers in a tiny startup realize that they have built something amazing, but don't quite know what they have. Two of them figure out they have built a time machine and manage to buy out the others. At that point they start going back in time to make money on the stock market, always careful to avoid interfering with themselves or anyone they know. But eventually the temptation to interfere in their own lives becomes too great and the repercussions grow greater and greater. This harkens back to when science fiction movies were about ideas and not just explosions. There is a lot of tech talk, but is easy to follow and actually has meaning, unlike the techobabble in most science fiction movies. It isn't boring, but the deliberate pace of this movie may put some people off if they are expecting and actio ... " [More]

Re:Recasting smaller productions
by Risselada in Filmgaming

loved it.

"[quote user="mercurial"]I thought of some, but most only count for about 90% of the film. There is Pi, which is mostly the main character throughout the film. Anatomy of Hell, a French film featuring only two actors fornicating for most of the film. The Dreamers, which is about 3 actors hauled up in an apartment doing all sorts of sordid things. The 24th Day which has two guys, one tied up, locked in an apartment. And I was thinking The Seventh Seal, but that is only two characters for about half of the film. As for a one man show, I would definitely love to see Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Molly Shannon, Peter O'Toole, and Maggie Smith. The only one man show I can actually recall is Paul Reubens doing Pee-Wee Herman at the Groundlings Theater (I think it was there) which is probably one of the funniest performances ever. I'd love to see him do something new.[/quote] Huh, I've never heard of Anatomy of Hell. The description doesn't sound like an endorsement, but I wonde ... " [More]

Re:Recasting smaller productions
by mercurial in Filmgaming

liked it.

"[quote user="Risselada"] Wow people really seem to get off on this group. I'm amazed. Where did everyone come from? Well it's almost too much mental energy for me to think up my full casts for all of the proposals you've made so far, much less spend the time looking over ever single submission. So I am proposing movies with smaller casts so it's easier. First of all what about recasting Secret Honor. There's only one actor in the whole thing, Phillip Baker Hall. Then I tried to think of other movies that only had one actor, and all I could think of was all of Spalding Gray's movies. But how could you possibly have someone else do Spalding Gray's material? It's basically a personal true story, so it wouldn't make sense for it to ever be remade. Then I surprised and saddened to realize I couldn't think of a single other production with only one actor. I did a search and actually found a movie called An Evening of Edgar Allen Poe starring (surpise) Vincent Price alone. The mo ... " [More]

Re:Top 5 black and white movies ...
by mercurial in Top 5

liked it.

"Entirely in B&W: 1.) Angel-A 2.) Ed Wood 3.) Clerks 4.) Man Bites Dog 5.) Swoon Runner-Ups: Paper Moon, Pi Partially B&W: 1.) American History X 2.) Sin City 3.) Zentropa, or Europa (depending on your country) 4.) Pleasantville 5.) Memento Runner-Up: Renaissance, The Blair Witch Project " [More]

Re:Top 5 black and white movies ...
by Smooth_J in Top 5

loved it.

"My picks...1. The Man Who Wasn't There2. Pi3. Schindler's List4. Good Night, and Good Luck.5. Sin CityPretty conventional, but I've still got a lot to see...and I would also like to add Memento to that list, but that's really only half in black and white, so it doesn't really count completely I guess. " [More]

[More reviews]

Review by All Movie Guide

All Movie Guide

is neutral about it.

This moody, impressionistic first effort by newcomer Darren Aronofsky, shot entirely in grainy 16mm black-and-white film stock, gives hope that the midnight movie may not be dead after all. A strange hybrid of David Lynch's classic Eraserhead, 1950s science fiction, and a smattering of religious mysticism, Aronofsky's film creates a definitive portrait of urban paranoia and slowly-developing madness. Shockingly, the film was made for around $60,000, an alarming figure when evidenced by the inventive set construction and remarkably burnished cinematography by Matthew Libatique. Pi won the coveted Grand Jury Prize at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival and became a mid-level success for Artisan Entertainment, the upstart independent studio that would later make a name for itself with the smashing success of The Blair Witch Project. ~ Jason Clark, All Movie Guide

Tags: numbers , mathematics , intense , jewish , paranoia
View all