Max Cohen is a mathematician who specializes in number theory. Max believes that everything in the universe can be understood through the analytical study of numbers and their patterns. Max is a loner who lives in a small apartment in New York. To facilitate his research, Max has built a makeshift supercomputer in his apartment that he named Euclid. Max suffers from cluster migraine headaches and takes pills to combat the pain. He also suffers from paranoia and often experiences hallucinations. His only dealings with the outside world are a casual friendship with his old mentor and fellow mathematician, Sol Robeson (Mark Margolis), his neighbor, a young woman named Devi (Samia Shoaib), and a little girl who often gives him math problems to solve, Jenna (Kristyn Mae-Anne Lao).
Max attempts to program Euclid to predict stocks but the computer malfunctions and spits out a random looking list of 216 numbers and one stock tip that appears to be incorrect. Annoyed Max throws out the list and beats the crap out of his computer. The next day Max finds out that the stock pick was correct, but he no longer has the list of numbers. Thinking that the list of numbers may be significant he visits Sol to discuss it. Sol eventually admits that he too discovered a list of 216 numbers years ago and tries to convince Max that pursuing this line of inquiry would send him down a rabbit hole and urges him to take a break from his investigation.
Max then meets a Hasidic Jew, Lenny Meyer (Ben Shenkman), who is also a mathematician pursuing what he believes are hidden mathematical messages in the Torah that were put there by God. Then Max is approached by a woman named Marcy Dawson (Pamela Hart). Marcy works for a Wall Street firm. She is aware of Max’s discovery of the 216 numbers and offers him what she calls a “Ming Mecca” chip to aid him in his research. All she wants in return is the results of his work. Max uses the chip which causes Euclid to crash again but this time the effect on Max intensifies his headaches and his paranoia. Max ends up being pursued by Marcy and her Wall Street minions, who are looking to corner the market, as well as being hounded by Lenny and members of the synagogue who want to know God’s real name. Max finds himself in a spiral and the only way out is down.
“Pi” was released in 1998 and was written and directed by Darren Aronofsky. It is an American black and white conceptual psychological thriller with science fiction horror and conspiracy elements.
The film is rife with jump cuts, chaos, repetition, symbolism and surreal images. It is laced with subtle cyberpunk and Techno images, especially Max’s apartment and his patchwork computer system. All of this makes the movie rather strange and often confusing. The movie is also full of mathematical concepts and theories that are pulsating throughout. Even the game Go, that Max and Sol play, is grounded in mathematics. If you don’t like math, this is your horror movie.
Religious undertones are also referenced in the film. A lot of scholars believe that both the Torah and the Bible contain mathematical elements that explain the universe and reveal God’s true name which is supposedly 216 letters long.