Pi

Pi (1998) is Darren Aronofsky's black-and-white psychological thriller, and you can watch it online on iFILM. It's his debut feature, shot on grainy 16mm film for next to nothing. Reclusive mathematician Max Cohen is convinced one hidden code lies beneath the chaos of all numbers.

Max barely leaves his cramped apartment, packed with homemade computers and wracked by blinding headaches. He hunts for patterns in the stock market and stumbles onto a 216-digit number that seems to unlock everything. Suddenly everyone wants it: Wall Street operators chasing profit, and a sect of devout fanatics certain the figure spells the true name of God. Sean Gullette plays Max, alongside Mark Margolis and Ben Shenkman.

Aronofsky made the film for around 60,000 dollars and walked away with the directing award at Sundance. The pounding electronic score came from Clint Mansell, who would go on to score nearly all of Aronofsky's work. This is jittery, claustrophobic filmmaking about a mind pushed past its limit. Stream Pi (1998) online on iFILM.