Review of Pi

Pi is about the minimalist, low-budget, psychologically involved debut I expected from Aronofsky. This is a film that is quite ambiguous and open to interpretation, but it all centers on Max, who is a number theorist trying to predict the stock market and more broadly use math to explain patterns in the world. The explanation through Max's obsessed eyes of how nature follows mathematical laws so precisely is all very well written and edited. From there we have an interesting dichotomy between a stock market group trying to use Max to get rich and a religious group trying to use Max to find the true name of God. At the heart of this tug of war, Max is growing increasingly frantic, uncertain of what is real, and committed to finding and understanding the 216 digit number. I love the elements of the movie - the math-based premise, the way it's shot and edited highlighting the contrasting chaos and patterns that exist in the natural world, the descent into madness as Max delves deeper into his journey, and the juxtaposition of religious and economics groups looking to find their respective holy grails. I still don't really know how to interpret the ending, but here's my initial read. Max becomes mentally consumed with finding the number, but then he finds it and sees that Sol had the number but that it ended up not helping him at all and he died alone, rather regretful of his own obsession. This allows Max to let go of the number - perhaps he comes to the realization that he was spiraling infinitely and there's no real ending down that path. He found the number, and he could give it to the religious people or give the Euclid code to the stock brokers, but the madness driven by each group or Max's obsession to go deeper won't end - it's a fruitless search. This finally gives him the closure to move on, so he doesn't share the number with anyone, destroys the computer and number, and is no longer obsessed with math. The final scene shows him at ease for the first time all film - hand not shaking, smiling, and with his mind no longer filled with mathematical calculations. It's a fascinating film, and it's certainly not what I expected, as my reading of it is more in the necessity of moving on from your obsessions rather than letting them consume you. This is reminiscent of Rian Johnson's Brick and Christopher Nolan's Following (and Memento at times, in how Max repeats facts to himself to center who he is), as low-budget debuts from some of my favorite directors that show the themes and styles they tackle and iterate on throughout their careers. I'm definitely excited to see more Aronofsky, and I could see Pi growing on me over time as it is a film with depth and one that is very creative and well directed.