Pi

Darren Aronofsky's debut feature Pi won him a 1998 directing award at Sundance. Max Cohen (Sean Gullette) is either a genius, a madman, or (likeliest) both. Holed up in a warren of electronic equipment in a New York apartment, he nervously and compulsively investigates arcane corners of number theory, hoping to unlock the Meaning of the Universe. If Max is mad, however, he's not alone: Marcy (Pamela Hart), the glad-handing representative of a shadowy financial entity, is pursuing him, as is a group of messianic Orthodox Jews. Both think he can unravel (or already has) the secret pattern underlying reality: The former sees it as the key to controlling the economy, the second, as a code for the secret name of God. Aronofsky makes sure that we see everything through Max's eyes; and Max is prone to blackouts, neurological tics, and hallucinations, none of which is totally controlled by the bouillabaisse of psychoactive medications he frequently pops. (NR) ANDY KLEIN
Tue., Jan. 20, 7 p.m., 2009