I liked the intrigue of this film, which is the pursuit of numerical patterns in nature from spiral galaxies down to microscopic organisms, and how it relates to the work of intellectual giants of the past (Pythagoras, da Vinci, etc). Unfortunately the film doesn't go anywhere interesting with this concept, dabbling only superficially in numerology of things like Judaism and the stock market, and even less so in actual mathematics. It meanders into being a drama with various people putting pressure on the mathematician, and others providing him with a new computer chip, none of which makes a lot of sense. It probably should have stayed away from all that stuff and the guy's disturbed mental state, and concentrated more on spiral patterns in nature, the golden rule, and interesting number patterns, whether they mean something or not. It's too bad, I liked the idea of it and the grainy black and white aesthetic, but it really faltered in the final half hour, and I found my interest fading. In the end it doesn't work as having insight into math/science because it's too shallow, and it doesn't work as a drama because the story is weak.
Review of Pi
