WARNING: Contains major spoiler for Pi.

What the fuck is it!?!?

Obviously from Pi, it's Max Cohen drilling himself in the head.

That movie was really shitty. How do you go from that to Requiem for a Dream?

You're nuts. Requiem was good, but nothing next to the masterpiece that is Pi.

But bp, Requiem is garbage.

I feel exactly the opposite. Pi was cool, but does nothing for me emotionally.

The only emotion Requiem evokes is that "Oh man, it would suck to be that person." feeling. Yeah, it certainly makes you sad, but it doesn't go any deeper. Pi is an intricate film that has a lot of questions and a lot of open-ended answers. The more I think about it, the more I love it. And quite frankly, I have A LOT more sympathy for Max Cohen than I do for any of the characters in Requiem (except for maybe Burstyn), they brought it on themselves, Max didn't ask for what he got.

Maybe I should watch Pi. I got it in a double pack with Requiem, and have yet to watch it.

Requiem makes me really sad and I can't say that for many movies, it just doesn't happen. I don't know, they brought it on themselves, but in the end, don't we all? I think that's part of it's tragedy and appeal. I've personally had my life impacted by addiction too so I guess that's why some of it stings. I definitely enjoy a movie like Pi that makes you think and is open ended but I could name several that appeal to me for that very reason and few that actually impact me emotionally. That said, I would rather watch Pi than Requiem almost any day.

Pi is overly convoluted for the sake of being convoluted.

Its an art house circle jerk that just tries to make you feel like you must be stupid if you dont like it.

Its like Mars Volta on Film.

I don't suck dick for crack or shove infected needles into my veins, so no.

Well me neither. Just because you don't fuck up exactly like they do....

I know what you meant, I was just making a smartass remark.

Anyway, I can see what you're saying and a lot of others agree with you, but again, I just don't think it goes any deeper than just showing us how much these junkies' lives end up sucking. Again, yes, it is very, very sad, but there are many films that can evoke such emotion better and go deeper at the same time. Magnolia, for example.

I've read Requiem as well as watched it, and I stand by it being a good film and a good novel. Just because the characters are addicts and do themselves in does not mean you can't feel sympathy and even empathy for them. Even if you find the film to have no meaning, you can't deny that the visuals and sound are excellent.

Pi is a wonderful film as well. I didn't find it to be pretentious at all, and I hate shit like The Mars Volta.

I don't get the negativity towards either film, but I know how tastes differ, so it doesn't really matter.

I don't deny that it is good nor that the visuals and sound are excellent, but again, there are just a lot of other films that do it better. And I do actually find it hard to feel sympathy/empathy for them. I mean, like I said, it makes me sad, but still, you do shit like that, you're asking for it.

The movie was really unresearched:

* Factual errors: The long string of digits representing pi in the opening of the movie is incorrect starting in the ninth decimal place.

* Factual errors: The logic followed by the Kabbalists with respect to Hebrew numerology is flawed. First, there are no zeroes in the Hebrew numerological system. Second, in Hebrew numerology, the different letters have values that vary in the number of digits (the values range from 1 to 400, with only the first 9 letters having single-digit values.) Therefore, it is impossible to create a specific 216-letter-word in Hebrew given a 216-digit-number with zeroes in it. It has been argued that the Kabbalists do not use Hebrew numbers to decipher the code, rather, they use the modern western number system to correlate the 216 character name to each Hebrew letter. Nevertheless, the premise seems to be muddled, at best, if not completely flawed.

* Factual errors: Rabbi Cohen states that the Second Temple contained the "ark of the tabernacle" which contained "the original ten commandments". The Ark of the Covenant was destroyed when the First Temple was destroyed prior to the exile in Babylon.

* Factual errors: When Robeson is discussing Archimedes' Principle with Max, he states the definition of density as weight per volume. Density actually refers to mass per volume. Any scientist or mathematician would not mistakenly say weight, as weight is an unpopular measurement among them.

* Factual errors: Max tells Lennie in the restaurant that if you divide 233 by 144 you get an approximation of Theta. Actually you get an approximation of Tau.

* Factual errors: Max mentions that the Golden Mean is represented by the Greek letter theta. In fact, it is phi or tau.

* Factual errors: Max writes the golden ratio as (a/b) = (a/a+b). It should be a/b = (a+b)/a, if, by definition, a>b.

* Factual errors: When Lenny demonstrates basic examples of Hebrew numeric coincidences, he gets the numbers right but mistranslates some of the Hebrew. "Kedem" does not mean "Garden of Eden" but is a biblical word means "East" (as in "East of Eden"). Also, "Etz Hakhaim" is not the tree of knowledge but rather the other forbidden tree, the tree of life.

Furthermore, it was rather boring. And the soundtrack was repetitive. And it did nothing for me. If I want to watch a movie that presents interesting theories, I'll watch Waking Life, which is infinitely better than this piece of garbage.