PI |
| CREDITS: Director: Darren Aronofsky. Cast: Sean Gullette, Mark Margolis, Ben Shenkman,
Pamela Hart & Stephan Pearlman. USA 1998. INTRODUCTION: Making its debut at Sundance where it won a Directing award for dramatic competition, this ultra-low budget, truly independent, sci-fi thriller was one of the big hits of the Edinburgh Film Festival. As Festival Director Lizzie Francke said, it's not very often that a film about mathematics gets people queuing up for 2 hours in the rain for ticket, and I should know as I was the last of those people to get a ticket, even though I only queued for half an hour and that was under the heater. SYNOPSIS: Mathematics genius Max discovers more than he expected when he starts researching the fluctuations of the stock market, as he finds himself caught between cabalists and capitalists competing for his secret. REVIEW: As with all low budget flicks this film relies on the ingenuity and talent of all involved to make up for the lack of money. Gullette who also co-wrote the script with Aronofsky is brilliant in the lead role with excellent support coming from Margolis, Shenkman, Hart & Pearlman. American Film Institute graduate Aronofsky shows a rare directorial talent in this his feature debut. Filmed for an astoundingly low figure of $60,000, about half of which went on film development costs, many see Aronofsky's feature debut as the future of indie production. With funding coming from assorted friends and relatives with a promise of a share of the profits, Pi was filmed using a digital camera before later being transferred to film. The film stock in question is an obscure reversible black & white variety never previously used for a full length feature and, while this may have been expensive, it certainly paid off, by lending the picture a uniquely bleak visual feel. DOP Matthew Libatique's stark imagery is almost completely black and white with very little grey in between, while Oren Sarch's jarred editing moves the story along at breakneck speed, or at least as breakneck as a story about a mathematician can get. I know the guys won't forgive me for this but one can't help but compare it to Lynch's debut "Eraserhead" due to their similar themes and visuals, but thanks to a strong plot and an understanding of basic narrative this film scores greatly over it's illustrious predecessor (so am I forgiven guys?). Absolutely unmissable providing you're given a chance not to. Mutt's Rating: ***** |