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∏ Starring: Sean Gullette Director: Darren Aronofsky Subject Matter: Chaos Theory, Migraine Headaches Rating: ** 1/2 Adventurous: !!! In 1997-1998, with a budget of only $60,000, Darren Aronofsky wrote, produced, and released his first feature-length film, titled simply ∏. Shot in black and white, and starring Sean Gullette, an unknown actor with little film experience, ∏ quickly became a smashing indie success, winning the director’s award at the Sundance Film Festival and Best First Screenplay at the Independent Spirit Awards. The film’s final gross, given on IMDb.com, was over $3,000,000 domestically, as well as some couch change abroad. The film focuses on Max Cohen (Gullette), a mathematics wizard who developed supernatural powers of arithmetic after looking into the sun as a child. Since the development of this Rainman-esque intelligence, Max has used his powers to predict outcomes in the stock market and other systems. Together with a whacky looking computer and extensive knowledge of chaos theory, Cohen fights evil Hasidic Jews, evil Mutual Fund companies, and evil paranoid homoerotic delusions as the first ever Mathematics Superhero. He is assisted in his quest by a sluttish neighbor, who carries an endless supply of Indian samosas, and a senile sidekick professor prone to grammar school anecdotes. Needless to say, a whole slew of craziness ensues. Dealing with experimental and disturbing subject matter, Aronofsky created ∏ just five years after graduating from Harvard film school. Only two years after completing ∏, he released another disturbing film, Requiem for a Dream, this time focusing on the world of drug addiction. All in all, he has made two mediocre films with two of the most disturbing endings in film history. Unless a miracle occurs and Aronofsky begins making engrossing films, history will probably remember him best for his disgusting film endings. So, what makes his films so disturbing? It is a combination of dramatic themes (drug use, a mentally unstable genius) and ridiculous circumstance. Aronofsky uses these two components, plus a touch of violence, sexual deviance, and bodily fluids to make any situation seem like a microcosmic Armageddon. The director is also prone to using "hip-hop montage" which is a collection of images or actions shown in fast-motion, with accompanying sound effects. And generally, these components create a scene so despicable, that it is hard to feel drawn to the subject matter and, thus, to identify with the characters. They seem too foreign, as if imported from another planet and then trapped inside an unforgiving urban hothouse. That said, ∏ was a wildly successful film. People loved it, and it was quickly hailed as the coming of a new master director. In his online journal that he kept during the production of the movie, Aronofsky compared himself to Stanley Kubrick, Spike Lee, Jim Jarmusch, Kevin Smith, and Martin Scorsese, primarily because they have all used black and white film at some point to make their movies. I would not go so far as to compare him with Jarmusch, Kubrick and Scorsese, but he certainly ranks as high as Spike Lee and Kevin Smith, two directors who began with a bang and quickly fizzled. Aronofsky has not released a film in almost 6 years (though The Fountain is due out next year). The two films he has released have not stood up well. Looking at IMDb, one quickly sees that half of the factual material in ∏ was made up or wrong. And Requiem for a Dream, though popular with the early-teens crowd, has received nothing more than a big Alfred E. Newman yecchh from anyone I know over the age of 20. With a record like that, Aronofsky should focus his comparisons to the one equally deranged and unprolific director on the list, Stanley “Bore Me To Tears, Then Shock Me to Submission” Kubrick.