Spoiler Warning: The next article comprises main spoilers for Caught Stealing. When you’ve but to observe Darren Aronofsky’s 2025 film, please train excessive warning.
Like a good quantity of individuals, I went and noticed Caught Stealing throughout its opening weekend, and it’s protected to say I had a rip-roaring good time watching Austin Butler’s film a couple of man being within the incorrect place on the incorrect time. Because the critics have identified (together with CinemaBlend’s personal overview), Darren Aronofsky’s newest movie, whereas violent and darkish at occasions, is a extra light-hearted and enjoyable expertise in comparison with his earlier movies.
Nevertheless, I haven’t been capable of cease enthusiastic about all of the similarities between Caught Stealing and Aronofsky’s directorial debut, Pi, a brief and frantic black-and-white movie that kicked off his stellar profession again in 1998. Throughout the film, I saved attempting to determine if this was only a random coincidence or one thing extra intentional, and I feel I could have a solution.
Between Related Characters, Conditions, And Themes, These Two Films Have A Lot In Widespread
Although Caught Stealing and Pi have two fully totally different tales – one is a couple of reclusive mathematician uncovering the important thing to crack the inventory market and the unspeakable title of God whereas the opposite is a couple of bartender caught between rival gangs (together with Hasidic Jews) on the lookout for stolen money – these films have so much in frequent. Each middle on two damaged males unknowingly getting caught up in one thing larger than themselves, nevertheless it goes deeper than that.
In Caught Stealing and Pi, Hank Thompson (Austin Butler) and Max Cohen (Sean Gullette), respectively, discover themselves encountering an identical motley crew of mysterious and violent criminals and authority figures who wish to make the most of them for their very own private achieve. Then there are shared themes about faith, the evil of cash, obsession, and freedom which can be explored in nice element all through each Aronofsky’s first movie and his newest function.
Caught Stealing And Pi Are Each Set In The Similar Basic Space At Round The Similar Time
Although the dates are ambiguous in Pi, the film got here out in July 1998, which is a few months earlier than the occasions of Caught Stealing and its nice mid-credits sequence, based on the Baseball Reference entry for the sport Hank watches on TV after escaping New York Metropolis. Not solely are each films set across the similar time, however additionally they cowl loads of the identical floor. This received me pondering, is it doable that Hank and Pi’s Max crossed paths sooner or later at the beginning went down of their respective journeys?
In Pi, Max’s condominium is positioned within the Chinatown neighborhood of Manhattan, which is basically proper subsequent to the Decrease East Facet, the place Hank spends a lot of his time in Caught Stealing. Nevertheless, there’s a fair higher probability that the 2 may have crossed paths when you think about the truth that Yvonne (Zoë Kravitz), Hank’s girlfriend, lived in Chinatown as nicely (although her condominium is way nicer than Max’s cramped and matted residing house).
In Reality, Each Films Additionally Characteristic Coney Island In Pivotal Scenes
One other massive similarity I observed is the truth that each movies have pivotal, character-driven scenes set within the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn, particularly alongside the water. At first, I assumed it was a coincidence or staple (Aronofsky shot an excellent scene in Requiem for a Dream in the identical space), however then I got here throughout the director’s look on Josh Horowitz’s Completely satisfied Unhappy Confused podcast, the place he talked in regards to the similarities:
Nicely, the humorous factor is how Coney Island capabilities in [Caught Stealing] is definitely structurally and emotionally precisely the identical because it does in Pi. In Pi, Max wakes up in Coney Island on the final cease after which goes all the way down to the seaside stairs on the water, and type of has a turning level. And it is type of very related.
As Aronofsky talked about, each films have unimaginable scenes the place the primary character goes to Coney Island and sits on the sting of the seaside whereas they ponder what they’re going to do subsequent at the beginning is over and completed with. The tonal, structural, and emotional similarities led me to consider that this was not directly an intentional selection.
It Turns Out The Caught Stealing Manufacturing Designer Hid The Pi Image All through The Film
I additionally stumbled upon a brief interview Aronofsky performed with IMDb, the place he revealed that the Caught Stealing manufacturing designer hid the Pi image all through the film as an homage to what he created almost 30 years in the past. I don’t know if he’s critical or not, however he issued a problem for followers to search out the right quantity for a particular prize. When this joins the checklist of latest films streaming within the subsequent few months, that is going to be a enjoyable Easter egg hunt.
The Pi symbols hidden all through the film are additionally a nod to the guerrilla advertising marketing campaign Aronofsky and his associates carried out to unfold phrase about his directorial debut again in 1998.
Truthfully, It Feels Like Darren Aronofsky Has Come Full Circle With His Newest Movie
Aronofsky has made some actually profound films over time, whether or not we’re speaking about one-and-done experiences like Requiem for a Dream or mind-bending spectacles like Mom. Although Caught Stealing is tonally totally different than Pi and what the then-up-and-coming filmmaker was attempting to realize together with his directorial debut, I can’t assist however really feel like he’s come full circle together with his newest effort.
Again in his previous stomping grounds for a film set in a time that clearly meant so much to him, it’s straightforward to see Aronofsky’s nostalgia on show within the new film. It not solely looks like a tribute to his youth, but in addition ‘90s New York Metropolis; the place is now very totally different in comparison with what it was within the period when he put up all these stickers.
Caught Stealing is displaying in theaters nationwide.