_PI_ movie

My wife and I went and saw the movie _PI_ this past weekend.  I was
attracted to it 'cause of the subject matter.  One reviewer wrote that
the protagonist was a "tortured genius steeped in an intriguing blend
of advanced mathematics and mystical Jewish cabala."

I suspect a fair number of cypherpunks' curiosity would be piqued by
such a description.  Well, don't waste the 5 bucks.  It's
self-indulgent, pretentious, second-year-film-student crap.  It's
whiny, "woe-is-me-tortured-genius" drivel.  It's
"squinty-cinematography-for-the-sake-of-squinty-cinematography"
effluvium.  

Here's the plot, in a nutshell:

1. Ah, I understand advanced mathematics SO WELL; I see patterns
EVERYwhere!  But alas, I cannot enjoy life's pleasures because I am,
de rigueur, a TORTURED GENIUS!

2. And my mentor USED to be a TORTURED GENIUS, but he stopped studying
THE PROFOUND MYSTERIES, and now he's happy and FUN!  What a WUSS!

[Oh yeah, and I suffer REALLY bad migraines.]

3. Isn't PI cool?

4. Aren't Fibonacci numbers neat?

5. Whaddya suppose The Holy Unspeakable Name of God is?

6. Oh, easy, it's 9049348384737...[insert 198 digits here]...32343.

7. I RUSH to tell my mentor what I've discovered, but, alas, my
ruthless taunting prompted him to re-open his investigation of THE
PROFOUND MYSTERIES and he couldn't hack it -- his brain overloaded and
he died of a stroke.  Damn!

8. So I dramatically BURN all my PROFOUND MYSTERIES conclusions and
the director inserts the requisite "shocking scene everyone will be
talking about" by having me lobotomize myself with an electric drill.

9. Next, I'm sitting on a park bench, playing games with a child
(Quintessential Innocence).  I am finally ENJOYING LIFE, appreciating
the leaves on the trees and such.  But this kid, she wants to play
math games with me, which of course symbolizes the fact that IT'S NOT
OVER!

10. The end.

And it's all shot on shitty stock in crackly black and white.  So
basically, it's about two gay cowboys and some pudding.


\\/alter

I agree that there were one too many "tortured genius
staring in the mirror while flooded by angst" scenes. Okay, perhaps two
or three too many. That having been said, I found the themes interesting.
Maybe I am sophomoric, but I will always find the fibonacci constant facsinating.
I was impressed that the director did not overstep the bounds of his understanding
of it and Kabbalah. Many directors who broach either topic have a tendency
to take what little they know and extrapolate off into meaninglessness.
Also, I liked the soundtrack, and the scene where the protaganist 
is "saved" by the group of Hasids. (Were they in an Aries K car? I found
that scene hilarious.)

Yes, it was pretentious in parts; but given the topics
this film concerned itself with, that was inevitable. And I would watch
the film 3.1416...times a day for a week before I would watch any
of the current slew of politcally correct propaganda pretending to be art
that gets pumped out by Hollywood. I venture to guess that there was more
to think about in Pi then there was in "One True Thing" or will be in "Beloved."
42,396. Er...no. 42,489. Um, wait. 23,777. yeah that's it.Xenophon

P.S. Has anyone seen the 2nd edition of "Maximum Security" yet? Any
reviews?