note : some may consider portions of the following text to be spoilers . 
be forewarned . 
among my fanatical ticker tape-worshipping friends , there's one who happens to share the same philosophy espoused by the central character in darren aronofsky's darkly original pi : the entire stock market can be reduced to nothing but a series of patterns which , through analysis , will produce information to accurately forecast future behaviour . 
 ( an example of the mentality involved : if the stock price goes up like this , and then down like that , and then sharply up this way , it then will go * this * way . ) 
while i freely admit that i know less than nothing about the market ( knowledge check : prices up -- good ; prices down -- bad ; most of the time , at least ) and hence really couldn't comment with any authority , it's always nonetheless struck me as an incredibly naive oversimplification of an astonishingly complex system ( and besides , if it were that simple , no doubt somebody would've already figured it all out ) . 
the difference in this case is that while my colleague ( an otherwise assuredly realistic individual ) truly believes in this in and of itself as a valid forecaster , pi uses this ideology as a device with which to investigate its character's psychosis . 
it's also vastly more convincing with its argument . 
 " mathematics is the language of the universe , " insists genius protagonist maximillian cohen ( sean gullette ) in a cool , mantra-like voice-over which repeats throughout the picture . 
since nature can be expressed in numbers , and there are patterns everywhere in nature , he reasons with eminent logic that finding the patterns will allow him to predict anything -- the ups and downs of the stock market , how many games the yankees will win this year , the flavour of jam i'm going to put on my toast tomorrow morning . 
obsessed with finding the proverbial key to the universe , max lives in paranoid , self-imposed solitude in a seedy nyc chinatown apartment , single-mindedly toiling away with his monstrous homemade computer system . 
sullenly withdrawn and plauged by debilitating migraines , the elusive pursuit of a mysterious 216-digit number his machine spits out one day is driving him into madness . 
the story , then , is basically an eccentricity , but it's a clever , astute eccentricity , perceptively zeroing in on the modern mistrust of mathematical reductionism ; in an age where a dominant societal phobia is one's individualism being replaced by a series of numeric identifiers , max's all-consuming penchent for numbers at once creates a lingering , unsettling mood . 
it helps matters that he's not a particularly likable protagonist . 
all attempts of friendliness from neighbours are curtly rebuffed by max , a spindly , neurotic-looking individual who hasn't the time to indulge in pleasantries . 
for a film which puts its lead character front and center ( mr . gullette appears in virtually every scene ) , pi takes a refreshing and effective approach in avoiding conventional aesthetics ; because of our ambivalence with max , we're not so much avidly rooting for him to triumph with a moment of epiphany as we're following him through this plot with a sense of mixed dread and morbid fascination -- it's more disturbing journey than quest . 
still , we do care about max's fate . 
teetering on the edge of dementia , he winds up being pursued by two different groups which want to pick his brain , both fronted by deliciously perky , resolutely cheerful representatives with inevitably duplictious intentions . 
as we know , in films where paranoia is a dominant element ( see the truman show's laura linney character ) , or for that matter , in real life , it's always the ones who never stop smiling at you and are overly friendly that are the ones of which to be wary . 
pi , a film that addresses patterns , itself intentionally adheres to an identifiable pattern cycle -- headache scene ; important revelation or bit of plot development ; pill-popping montage ; hallucinatory nightmare ( with decidedly cronenberg-esque undertones -- few other directors are as equally adept in bridging unsettling concepts and body-themed horror ) ; nosebleeding reality . 
the repetitiveness , far from being tedious , is effectively maddening ; more than anything , the picture aims to get under our skins and take in events from max's claustrophobic perspective . 
in this regard , it wildly succeeds due to mr . aronofsky's striking direction . 
it's a rarity that a film so completely immerses itself into a protagonist's warped perspective of his surrounding , and high contrast black-and-white cinematography combined with constant usage of extreme close-ups lend a heightened sense of paranoia to the proceedings . 
 ( in some scenes , the stark composition in conjunction with the lumbering approach by mr . gullette make his character curiously resemble a latter-day max schreck , from nosferatu . ) 
using savage , jittery lensing and rapid cuts to create a sense of disorientation , the picture is often dizzying to behold , and max's effective isolationism is emphasized by shots from the so-called snorri cam , which keep him in plain focus while the environment races by in blurred bursts . 
pi's raw , aggressive visuals are reminiscent of david lynch's early work ( in particular , eraserhead ) . 
the film's sinister tone splashes onto the screen immediately with a dazzling opening credit sequence ably backed by a sly electronic score by clint mansell , and gradually increases in intensity . 
still , amidst all its kafkaesque qualities and overall dispassionate mood , pi does occasionally display a sense of humour . 
at one point , marcy dawson ( pamela hart , great fun ) entices max with the offer of an invaluable treasure : a one-of-a-kind . . . 
computer chip . 
 " isn't it beautiful , " she coos . 
a showcase for mr . aronofsky's technical virtuosity ( made for $60 000 , it's since gone on to capture acclaim at the 1998 sundance film festival ) , pi is an intriguingly cerebral story which , ironically , is perhaps the most purely visceral film of the year .