π (1998)

Directed by Darren Aronofsky. Starring Sean Gullette, Mark Margolis, Ben Shenkman, Pamela Hart, Samia Shoaib, Stephen Pearlman, Ajay Naidu. [R]

Aronofsky’s propulsive, paranoid debut isn’t always easy to embrace, but it’s the rare kind of intellectual thriller that eschews slow-burn aloofness for frantic and freaky obsession. Gullette’s tortured, antisocial math genius is driven but distracted, obsessed with finding mathematical patterns in the universe; outsiders want his fevered brain to uncover ways to predict the stock market or uncover secret truths about God hidden in the Torah, but since he’s on a regiment of pills, keeps having disturbing hallucinations, and fears he’s being watched and followed almost all the time, what’s to be trusted? The inky, high-contrast black & white photography becomes more arresting the deeper the film plunges into the precipice of madness; Aronofsky’s auteurist stakes are less poised than crudely restless, but they expose the germs of a bold vision, never quite captured but forever enclosing on the path of an infinite spiral. The breathless pace and rapid mental constructions are mirrored by the clattering soundtrack (featuring the likes of Aphex Twin, Autechre, and Massive Attack). Brings refreshed meaning to the adage “ignorance is bliss.”

77/100