Essay on the movie "Pi" (1997) written and directed by Darren Aronofsky.

Pi is a black and white movie that fits into Classicism form of film. Mathematician Maximillian Cohen (played by Sean Gulette) is a genius who leads a strange and lonely life. He shares a small apartment with Euklid, his homemade supercomputer. He's a mathematical genius who suffers from head-splitting migraine attacks, hallucinations, extreme paranoia, and some form of social anxiety disorder . After many unsuccessful treatments, he has become addicted to several painkillers . He is obsessed to find a pattern within the number pi. He thinks Mathematics is the language of nature, and believes everything around us can be represented and understood through numbers and that if you graph the numbers properly patterns will emerge. Max meets Lenny Meyer (played by Ben Shenkman), a Hasidic Jew who does mathematical research on the Torah. Lenny explains to Max how some people believe that the Torah is a string of numbers that form a code sent by God. Lenny's research is similar to real mathematical theories, which intrigues Max. Lenny also mentions that he and his fellow researchers are searching for a 216-digit number that is repeated throughout the text of the Torah. Max finds the 216-digit number code that he thinks it will unlock patterns in the stock market to predict future changes of how stock will increase or decrease. A Wall Street businesswoman Marcy Dawson (played by Pamela Hart) and a group of fundamental Jews who believe the code Max has found is true name of god target and follow him to get the code and make predictions of their own, . This gives Max a terrifying rush of migraines, aggressive behavior and paranoia. He winds up destroying his super computer, and himself by drilling a hole in his head with a power drill to relieve the constant pain he lives with. He survives the self surgery at the cost of losing his genius.

The scenes of "Pi" are located in small indoor places. The film had a low budget, and the filmmaker chose to make use of existing places rather than rebuild sets in a studio environment. There are the apartments of Max and Sol, the coffee shop, NY subway trains and stations. There is a claustrophobic aura of almost all the settings. The imagery tends to be very close and narrow. Whenever we see the Max in a long shot, paranoia or a migraine are present or imminent as well.
Framing, perspective, camera movements and editing make the viewer feel like Max Cohen does. The message is one of claustrophobia and paranoia are easily understood. Max is sensitivity to light his windows are covered by black sheets that ties in to the movie's exposure. This is especially obvious during migraine attack scenes, where the picture fades into bright white.
There are instances that use increased tempo, that show the painful migraine headache. Super close-ups of Max taking his medicine are rapidly cut in succession. There are medium close shots of the Max knowing the pain he is about to feel. And super close-ups of his face, with loud static electronic noise, showing the pain Max is experiencing. Pi" has a small cast that includes the main character Max Cohen and five other main characters .
Lenny Meyer (palyed byBen Shenkman), a Jewish numerologist who met Max in a coffee shop. He is instructed to kidnap Max for religious reasons associated with Max’s knowledge of the code. Sol Robeson (played by Mark Margolis), Max's former professor who also looked for a pattern in Pi. Marcy Dawson (played Pamela Hart). A greedy, cruel and materialistic Wall Street businesswoman, who is after Max due to what impact of his work may cause Devi (played by Samia Shoaib) Max’s neighbor ho likes him but never succeeds in getting Max's attention. Max is too occupied with himself and his work to grt involved with her. Jenna (played by Kristin Mea-Anne Lao), a Chinese girl from the block who test his mathematics skills by quizzing him whenever she sees him.

PI" was certainly one of the strangest films I had ever seen, and I am a fan of strange movies
Shot on a hand held camera in grainy black and white the visual style of this film sets it apart from other films I have seen. The filmmaker achieved a dark, and moody atmosphere to show the workings of a genius mathematician. A good choice in my mind, seeing only light and dark, without the clutter of color. Just the world of a mathematician bent on proving order, in a universe of apparent chaos. There are no explosions or special effects so you have to pay close attention to details. The soundtrack goes very well with this film, creepy, electronic, and metallic is how I would describe it. Every time I watch the movie there is something new to be found. In my opinion a must see to anyone who likes strange face paced movies that make you think.