Things To Watch

Max, a reclusive paranoid mathematical genius holed up in his apartment with only his super computer and his occasional hallucinations and painful headaches for company is attempting to break the numerical pattern that forms the basis of stockmarket fluctuations (or so he thinks).

A shadowy group of investors, looking to break the market, and a group of Hasidic Jews, searching for the 216-digit number that reveals the true name of God (which it appears Max has inadvertently discovered) are trying to get their hands on him for their own purposes.

It ends up with Max destroying the source of his genius with a power drill (messy!) so he can live a normal life and appreciate the simpler things again.

The film is a low budget black and white production, with an aggressive (perhaps over-stylised) visual presentation and a great soundtrack featuring Roni Size and Orbital (amongst others).

This was one of those films that immediately leads you off in a hundred different directions with your own research. PI is highly recommended.

I recently watched this again for about the tenth time or something, and I was still impressed and will probably end up watching it yet again in the future.

A satirical study of war's traumatic aftermath set in a reconstructed gothic castle, home to a group of soldiers suffering from battle psychosis. The film follows the progress of the newly arrived psychiatrist (Stacy Keach) who isn't all he seems, and who ultimately sacrifices his own life to restore one of the inmates faith in humanity and god, and in the process cures him of his psychosis.

Written and directed by William Peter Blatty, who wrote The Exorcist and staring Stacy Keach who gives probably the best performance in his career, backed up by an excellent cast and an intelligent plot with extremely witty dialogue.

Highly recommended. Probably one of the best films I've ever seen.