Pi Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.5

Pi Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 27, 2024

"Pi Day" really was Pi Day this year, or to perhaps offer it in a more diacritically correct fashion, 𝝅 Day, given that Darren Aronofsky's now legendary film (which A24 re-released both for IMAX and on 1080 and 4K UHD disc appropriately on 3/14) often offered its title in that venerable form. Pi was a completely audacious debut for Aronofsky back in 1998, offering a dense narrative within a riveting presentational conceit which, as Aronofsky overtly mentions in his commentary included on this disc as a supplement, was designed to get the viewer "into" the addled mind of mathematician Max Cohen (Sean Gullette, who shares a story credit for this effort along with Aronofsky and Eric Watson). As Aronofsky also gets into in his commentary track, Pi may ultimately be about the search for order which may inevitably end with an unconditional surrender to the forces of chaos. This rather daunting thesis is offered in Pi as near refractions emanating from the psyche of Max, who either hallucinates he's perhaps a pawn in a giant conspiracy or in fact may actually be a pawn in a giant conspiracy. Pi is a completely unnerving viewing experience with a deliberately hallucinatory ambience that intentionally leaves the viewer unsure of what exactly is "really" happening and what may otherwise "simply" be (if anything is simple in this film) the visions of a perhaps disastrously unstable mind.

If one takes Aronofsky at his word with regard to his feelings and/or thoughts about the dialectic between order and chaos and people seeking explanations that may in fact not be available, it's probably easy to joke that Pi itself may defy analysis, or at least parsing. Max seems to be on the spectrum, so to speak, able to crank out answers to complex equations at the veritable blink of an eye, but also completely inept when it comes to actual human interactions, at least for the most part. If he stumbles on occasion with two neighbors in his apartment building, a little girl named Jenna (Kristyn Mae-Anne Lao) who delights in offering him math problems, and Devi (Samia Shoaib), a decidedly more grown up female, he at least seems on more "normal" (a decidedly relative concept) terms with his math mentor Sol Robeson (Mark Margolis). All of these weird interactions play out in a dreamlike (nightmare-like?) environment where Aronofsky by his own admission in his commentary track attempted to create a low budget version of the retro-futuristic production design of Terry Gilliam's Brazil.

Things only get weirder as Max's research into number theory reveals a "top secret" integer that is comprised of 216 digits. That number (i.e., 216) opens up a veritable Pandora's Box of occult references for those who may be interested, but suffice it to say a host of Kabbalistic references including a supposed "hidden" divine name called the Shem HaMephorash enter the fray courtesy of a Hasidic Jew named Lenny Meyer (Ben Shankman) who befriends Max, but who may have ulterior motives for that friendship. It turns out Sol has also had a history with the 216 digit mathematical oddity, and there is a whole separate, ostensibly less religiously based group (unless one counts Capitalism as a religion) that is also out to "tap" Max's mind for information.

Speaking of "tapping" Max's mind, Pi rather infamously ends with a horrifying moment which won't be spoiled here, other than to say it may suggest that there are "operations" other than the mathematical variety that might finally supply Max with some relative peace. Pi is an absolutely unforgettable film that may make for an especially interesting double feature with Aronofsky's arguably more celebrated Requiem for a Dream. Both films offer a really riveting "interior" presentational aspect where the viewer is almost thrust into a roiling psyche, with the line between "reality" and "illusion" arguably blurred to the point of meaninglessness. Speaking of meaning and/or meaninglessness, as I've alluded to in other reviews of films that at least tangentially touch on what is generically called the "occult", I've long had an interest in Jewish mysticism in particular, and so may be somewhat better versed in Kabbalistic lore than the "average" viewer. That said, whatever "meaning" Aronofsky may be offering with his Kabbalistic allusions is arguably evanescent at best, which frankly doesn't redound negatively to the ultimate effectiveness of Pi in the slightest, perhaps because Aronofsky suggests both subliminally in the film itself as well as overtly in his commentary how maybe it's better to always have questions rather than pat answers for everything.

Pi Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Pi is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of A24 with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.66:1. Pi is a stylistic tour de force, shot on 16mm reversal stock, with Matthew Libatique's high contrast black and white cinematography often pushed to the point where whites intentionally bloom and blacks can virtually swallow whole sections of the frame. Despite these flourishes, detail levels are remarkably consistent, and if fine detail levels in particular are arguably improved in A24's 4K UHD rendering of the film, I can't imagine fans of Pi being less than pleased with general detail levels throughout this 1080 presentation, something that's really rather remarkable given the aggressive tweaking of imagery that Aronofsky and Libatique offer throughout. The 16mm source and reversal stock both lend this presentation a definitely very gritty at times grain field, though Aronofsky and Libatique play with this presentational aspect along with everything else, so that some scenes are almost awash in a sea of grain, while other moments are at least relatively less textured looking. While I was actually not bothered at all by the increased resolution appearance of the grain in A24's 4K presentation (something that regular readers of my reviews will know is not always the case with shot on film productions), I can imagine some videophiles liking the slightly more subliminal grain field this 1080 version offers. Given the small budget and limited funds for an expansive production design, Pi still delivers "the goods" in terms of fascinating stuffed to the brim frames that despite all manner of post production tweaking typically offer gorgeous (if intentionally widely variant) gray scale and appealing detail levels.

Pi Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Pi features a Dolby Atmos track which frankly may disappoint some audiophiles who want nonstop surround activity, especially the over the top variety offered by an Atmos encode. Surround activity throughout this track can be rather subtle and in fact intermittent. Listen, for example, to the jangly, percussive opening "music" by Clint Mansell, and you'll discover the rear channels aren't even engaged until around the producing credits toward the end of the credits sequence. Side and rear engagement, let alone Atmos engagement, can be sporadic, though when it does occur, as in the sudden flight of a dove around the 14 minute mark, it can be quite arresting. With expectations therefore set appropriately, while this may not be the "showiest" Atmos track ever offered, it definitely provides some hallucinatory immersion as Max's mental state deteriorates, and both the bizarre sound effects and Mansell's score penetrate the side and rear channels, if not consistently, then certainly on noticeable and repeated occasions. Max's narration and dialogue tends to be front and center throughout. All spoken material is delivered cleanly and clearly. Optional English subtitles are available.

Pi Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary

  1998 Director Commentary with Darren Aronofsky

  
  

  1998 Actor Commentary with Sean Gullette

• Behind the Scenes Footage with Commentary from Darren Aronofsky and Sean Gullette (HD; 8:31) provides some interest if only because it's in color, though this was obviously sourced from videotape and has some slight tracking problems at the bottom of the frame.


• Deleted Scenes with Commentary (HD; 4:00) contain timecode "captions" (though they're at the top of the frame).


• 1998 Sundance Film Festival Directing Award Acceptance Speech (HD; 3:26)


• Music Video (HD; 2:50) perhaps unwittingly answers the unasked questions, "How could this have never made the Top 10?".

Additionally, A24 has packaged this with a DigiPack inside a slipbox. The DigiPack encloses six artcards printed on cardstock featuring kind of weirdly streaked reproductions of frames from the film with information about the frame and/or scene on the back. I found it rather difficult to remove both the DigiPack from the slipbox and the artcards from the DigiPack with A24's 1080 release, but not their 4K UHD release, which may suggest that things can get "shifted" in the shipping process, for whatever that's worth.

Pi Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I frankly can't remember the last time I saw Pi, but I know it's probably been at least a decade or so, and so revisiting the film was a really visceral experience since I only remembered the general outline of things. Pi may not ultimately "mean" anything, but it's a nightmare fever dream of a story that is absolutely impossible to forget. While I mentioned above how this film would make an interesting double feature with Requiem for a Dream, its "math whiz" focal character and at least one salient plot point may actually remind some of A Beautiful Mind, though the two films couldn't be more different otherwise. A24's release offers secure technical merits and some appealing supplements. Highly recommended.