Review of Pi (1998) by Ami I — 29 Oct 2010

? (also known as Pi) is a 1998 black-and-white American psychological thriller directed by Darren Aronofsky, who won the Directing Award at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay and the Gotham Open Palm Award. This film was Darren Aronofsky's directorial debut.

Max Cohen (Sean Gullette), the story's main character and unreliable narrator, is a number theorist who believes that everything in nature can be understood through numbers. He is capable of doing simple arithmetic calculations involving large numbers in his head. Max also suffers from cluster headaches, as well as extreme paranoia, hallucinations, and social anxiety disorder. Other than a woman living next door who sometimes speaks to him, Max's only social interaction is with Sol Robeson (Mark Margolis), his old mathematics mentor.

Max begins making stock predictions based on the calculations of his computer, Euclid. In the middle of printing out his picks, Euclid suddenly crashes after spitting out a seemingly random 216-digit number, as well as a single pick at one-tenth its current value. Disgusted, Max tosses out the printout of the number. The next morning, he checks the financial pages and sees that the pick Euclid made was accurate. He searches desperately for the printout but cannot find it. Sol becomes unnerved when Max mentions the string of numbers, asking if the string was 216 digits long. When Max questions him about the string, Sol indicates that he came across such a number many years ago. He urges Max to slow down and try taking a break.

At a coffee shop, Max meets Lenny Meyer (Ben Shenkman), a Hasidic Jew who coincidentally does mathematical research on the Torah. Lenny demonstrates some simple Gematria, the correspondence of the Hebrew alphabet to numbers, and explains how some people believe that the Torah is a string of numbers that form a code sent by God. Max takes an interest when he realizes that some of the number concepts Lenny discusses are similar to other mathematical concepts, such as the Fibonacci sequence. Max is also met by agents of a Wall Street firm that is interested in his work. One of the agents, Marcy Dawson, offers Max a powerful classified computer chip called "Ming Mecca" in exchange for the results of his work, which Max eventually accepts.

Using the chip, Max has Euclid analyze mathematical patterns in the Torah. Euclid spits out the 216-digit number before crashing again. When his computer refuses to print out the number, Max begins to write it down. Midway through the writing, Max realizes that he knows the pattern, undergoes a sudden epiphany, and passes out. Thereafter, Max appears to become clairvoyant and is able to visualize the stock market patterns he had been searching for. But his headaches also increase in intensity, and he discovers a strange vein-like bulge protruding from his right temple. Max has a falling out with Sol after the latter urges him to quit his work.

Dawson and her agents grab Max on the street, and try to force him to explain the 216-digit number. They had found the original printout and have been trying to use it to manipulate the stock market in their favor. Although Max is held at gunpoint, Lenny drives by and rescues him. However, Lenny and his companions make similar demands on Max to give them the number. They finally reveal their intentions: they believe the number was meant for them to bring about the Messianic Age, as the number represents the unspeakable name of God. Max refuses, insisting that whatever the source of the number is, it has been revealed to him alone.

Max flees and tries to visit Sol, only to find that he has died. Max searches his house and finds mathematical scribblings similar to his own. On a Go board, with its pieces arranged in an Archimedean spiral, Max finds a piece of paper with the 216-digit number. Driven to the brink of madness, Max experiences another headache and resists the urge to take his painkillers. Believing that the number and the headaches are linked, Max tries to concentrate on the number through the pain. After passing out, Max has a vision of himself standing in a white void and repeating the digits of the number. The vision ends with Max hugging his neighbor, who turns out to be an illusion. Max stands alone in his trashed apartment. Giving up, Max burns the paper with the number, and trepans himself in the right temple with a power drill.

Later, when a girl with a calculator comes to the apartment asking math problems. Max smiles and reveals that he can no longer perform complex mental calculations. He observes the trees blowing in the breeze, at peace.