Pi (1998)

Pi is a Darren Aronofsky film dealing with the patterns and connections between math, nature, and discovering the meaning of life. It follows a genius number theorist named Maximilian Cohen (Sean Gullette) who is working to discover a pattern that can predict the stock market. This leads to a set of "random" numbers that his computer spits out, which takes him on a journey of trying to discover what it all means while he is being chased by a group of Hasidic Jews and a major stock broker.

What I like most about this film is it's relation to life and how Cohen relates everything in the world to math. He sees patterns in everything and uses these patterns to unlock more doors until he finds himself too deep to come out. It seems that all (or at least most) of the movies that I enjoy deal at some point with insanity. This film is insane from the get-go. Cohen is paranoid and reclusive but retreats into himself more as he uncovers more and more about the mysteries of the universe.

This film also does a good job of measuring the importance of what Cohen is actually researching. If he finds this one ultimate pattern, it can be used exponentially in an infinite number of ways and applications. For example, predicting the stock market, making religious discoveries, and explaining the meaning of life. Cohen is actually a numerical based existentialist in that aspect. I always get something new and interesting out of this movie whenever I watch it. It gets a 4.5/5.