Pi
1998 · Directed by Darren Aronofsky
Aronofsky's debut. A reclusive math genius in Chinatown believes he can find a 216-digit number that explains everything. Hasidim, Wall Street, and a power drill all show up. Black-and-white reversal stock.
Why It's Cult
Pi is the most fully-realized first feature of the late nineties — a $60,000 movie shot in actual Chinatown apartments that announced Aronofsky as the next great American visualist. The reversal-stock photography. Sean Gullette's escalating breakdown. Clint Mansell's score (his first; he stayed). Hostile to anyone who wants narrative comfort, beloved by anyone who's ever stayed up too late thinking about prime numbers. The drill scene is the film's thesis.
The Plot, Officially
In NYC's Chinatown, recluse math genius Max (Sean Gullette) believes "everything can be understood in terms of numbers," and he looks for a pattern in the system as he suffers headaches, plays Go with former teacher Sol Robeson (Mark Margolis), and fools around with an advanced computer system he's built in his apartment. Both a Wall Street company and a Hasidic sect take an interest in his work, but he's distracted by blackout attacks, hallucinations, and paranoid delusions..
Starring
Sean Gullette, Mark Margolis, Ben Shenkman
Where to Watch
via JustWatch →
