Pi (Darren Aronofsky film)

[Kurt.]

I just like movies mate.

But if I had to pick a decade then it's no contest.

I have a film studies degree don't you know? What what what.

Woahhhh.........stop a horse.....


You can get a degree for watching films ??

 

[ijjysmith]

Woahhhh.........stop a horse.....


You can get a degree for watching films ??

Yes mate - It was a piss easy too - Even you could pass it.

 

[Housequake]

Unfortunately, the two subsequent Aronofsky films I've seen were pants. Requiem had stupid rent-a-student ideas with zero understanding of drug culture, tho' with a killer redeeming feature with the excellent acting performance from Ellen Burstyn.

I'm not having that. I understand if you mean aesthetically with the "hip-hop" montages as he calls them, but the underlying message about our fixation with trying to escape reality is a very important one. I think, anyway.

 

[dholliday]

I'm not having that. I understand if you mean aesthetically with the "hip-hop" montages as he calls them, but the underlying message about our fixation with trying to escape reality is a very important one. I think, anyway.

If the message is supposed to be about escaping reality, then where is the good stuff? It paints a picture as if drugs are the most horrid evil thing ever.

And the escaping reality thing only applies to a few addicts addicted to narcotics, who get all the headlines because some of them end up dying. Those of us into psychedelics don't escape reality, we explore it.

Films like Requiem and Traffic do naff all in adding to our understanding of drug culture, nor why so many people take them.

Human Traffic, on the other hand, was a more accurate film on why young people explore reality by taking recreational drugs.

When you interpret negative drug films as being about the protagonists wanting to escape reality, you mean they want to escape the society they're in. Society might be the 'reality' we find ourselves in, but it's not the reality. Not many films make this distinction. But plenty of books do. Fear & Loathing & Doors of Perception are just two I'd recommend.

 

[Philw]

Pi is one of my favourite films ever. It's weird, hypnotic and solipsistic. Stylish nonsense and deepfield noir at the same time.

It's proper journey-into-the-dark-side-of-self cinema, mate. Watch if you enjoy things like Eraserhead and the classic Twilight Zones as well as japanese anime like Perfect Blue.




Primer had an interesting premise and decently-middleweight hard-scifi ideas, much like Man From Earth. Both these ultra-low budget films should be remade into something Bigger, but I fear their ideas would be watered down before the budget got the green light.




Unfortunately, the two subsequent Aronofsky films I've seen were pants. Requiem had stupid rent-a-student ideas with zero understanding of drug culture, tho' with a killer redeeming feature with the excellent acting performance from Ellen Burstyn. The Fountain was horrid, but it makes girls cry confused tears, not sure if they're wanting Hugh Jackman as a husband or a dad. So I suppose from an anthropological perspective it's mildly diverting if you watch this with an impressionable young lady.

I think I might enjoy The Wrestler, tho'...def gonna give his upcoming Noah a miss, it's gonna be preachy sickness.

It's a great film. Quite hard to watch in a way tho.