Plot
A paranoid mathematician searches for a key number that will unlock the universal patterns found in nature.
Release Year: 1998
Rating: 7.5/10 (76,232 voted)
Critic's Score: 72/100
Director:
Darren Aronofsky
Stars: Sean Gullette, Mark Margolis, Ben Shenkman
Storyline Max is a genius mathematician who's built a supercomputer at home that provides something that can be understood as a key for understanding all existence. Representatives both from a Hasidic cabalistic sect and high-powered Wall Street firm hear of that secret and attempt to seduce him.
Writers: Darren Aronofsky, Darren Aronofsky
Cast: Sean Gullette
-
Maximillian Cohen
Mark Margolis
-
Sol Robeson
Ben Shenkman
-
Lenny Meyer
Pamela Hart
-
Marcy Dawson
Stephen Pearlman
-
Rabbi Cohen
Samia Shoaib
-
Devi
Ajay Naidu
-
Farrouhk
Kristyn Mae-Anne Lao
-
Jenna
Espher Lao Nieves
-
Jenna's Mom
Joanne Gordon
-
Mrs. Ovadia
Lauren Fox
-
Jenny Robeson
Stanley B. Herman
-
Moustacheless Man
Clint Mansell
-
Photographer
Tom Tumminello
-
Ephraim
Henri Falconi
-
Kaballah Scholar
Filming Locations: Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
Box Office Details
Budget: $60,000
(estimated)
Opening Weekend: $31,069
(USA)
(12 July 1998)
(1 Screen)
Gross: $3,216,970
(USA)
(29 November 1998)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
Pi cost only $60,000 to make, most of which was raised in the form of individual $100 contributions from the director's friends and family. When it was later bought by Artisan Entertainment, each contributor got back a $150 return on their investment.
Goofs:
Factual errors:
Max mentions that the Golden Mean is represented by the Greek letter theta. In fact it is denoted using the Greek letter Tau or, more commonly Phi, whereas phi is used to denote 1/Phi. Phi is for Phidias, a 5th Century BC Greek sculptor who employed the ratio.
Quotes:
[first lines]
Maximillian Cohen:
9:13, Personal note: When I was a little kid my mother told me not to stare into the sun. So once when I was six I did. The doctors didn't know if my eyes would ever heal. I was terrified, alone in that darkness. Slowly, daylight crept in through the bandages, and I could see. But something else had changed inside of me. That day I had my first headache.
User Review
Indie film at its best
Rating: 10/10
'Pi' is independent filmmaking at its best. Without the constraints of the
studio/corporate system, Aronofsky and Gullette created a film that is
bizarre, intelligent, and unlike anything that came out of Hollywood in the
1990's. Who would have thought to blend Wall Street, the Kabbalah, computer
science, Go, number theory, and the most fascinating number in the universe
in a solute of obsessive-compulsive, paranoid genius and then strain through
gritty B&W cinematography and hyperkinetic editing? The mixture is
definitely not for everybody, but I certainly loved it.
Plus the soundtrack (featuring Orbital, Clint Mansell, Aphex Twin. Gus Gus,
Spacetime Continuum, and other techno talents) just flat-out
rocks.
0