5. Pi (1998)
In the film Pi, Max (Sean Gullette) is on the verge of discovering how number patterns function in the real world. He's obsessed with the notion that everything in nature can be explained through numbers and is dedicated to finding out how. His obsession leads to his reliance on painkillers and introversion. Seemingly the only two people who take notice to him are his neighbor, Devi, and a little girl who is quick to approach with a calculator in hand, asking him to solve random math problems. Most of his interaction takes place with his mentor, Sol. Sol was once in search of meaning through number, but became dangerously unnerved and burned out by the process. Their time is spent discussing number theory while playing the game of Go. Through his attempts and recklessness, Max is approached by Wall Street tycoons who take a sudden interest in his theories concerning numbers and patterns, as well as members of a sect of Judaism who firmly believe his mind is the key in restoring order in the world. Through all of his trials and tribulations, Max's moment of self realization comes in a hallucination. In this dream state, Max stares at himself in his bathroom mirror holding a power drill, desperate to rid himself of the headaches he'd been suffering up until that point. With only the slightest hint of hesitation, he takes the drill to his head as it burrows through a vein that had been protruding just above the right temple. Blood spurts outward and he awakens on the floor of his bathroom, unscathed, in complete silence. Though the vision is violent by nature, it is the representation of Max coming to terms with his surroundings. He finds peace in knowing that in trying to find the relation between number patterns and existence, he had been missing out on the most important connections in his own life. Moments later, Max is sitting outside on a park bench marveling at the sight of leaves swaying back and forth as the Fall wind passes through them. He's approached by the little girl with the calculator who asks him to solve another math problem, to which he smiles and claims not to know. This is not only a sweet gesture, but a self affirming notion that he has now applied meaning to his own life and is ready to move forward into the unknown.