Sean Gullette’s hollow-eyed look and irritable demeanor make him devoid of charisma. More harmful to his performance, he didn’t come across as convincingly brilliant, a problem when playing a math genius. Interestingly, he looked much better bald in the latter parts of the movie.

• Mark Margolis as a retired math professor with a penchant for playing Go. Margolis has one of the more interesting heads and voices in movies today.
• Ben Shenkman as a smoking Hassid with various ulterior motives. Shenkman is a very interesting actor who should work more.
• Stephen Pearlman as a Hassidic Rabbi with a deep belief in numerology
• Samia Shoaib as Gullette’s gorgeous next door neighbor, sort of a Big Bang Theory ideal woman. Why didn’t Shoaib become a big star? I’d pay to see her.

Aronofsky’s debut movie was reportedly made for a mere $60,000, and looks it. However it’s got ideas to spare, even if its SciFi and stock market elements are kinda ridiculous. Aronofsky cowrote it with his star and Harvard classmate, Sean Gullette, who plays the tortured genius.

Their film doesn’t ring true at several junctures, from the small to the large. For instance, why would a gorgeous neighbor remain so sweet on a homely genius in the face of constant vitriol? More importantly, could a numerologist unlock two highly complex systems? The film is far from convincing on this central issue. Even some tiny details ring false, e.g., mathematicians don’t say “divide into.”

The silly computer SciFi and proto-high-frequency trading don’t ring true.

Movie reality aside, Pi is one of the few movies to riff on Jewish Numerology and Kabbalah. The Name Game, writ cosmically large, is a truly fascinating topic.