“Pi,” April 30

Wednesday, April 30, 7 p.m.

Rozz-Tox, 2108 Third Avenue, Rock Island IL

A psychological thriller and cult classic that earned the Directing Award at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay, and the Gotham Open Palm Award, Oscar nominee Darren Aronofsky's feature debut Pi enjoys a special April 30 showing at Rock Island's Rozz-Tox. This event in the Filmsofia series offers a free community screening and reading discussion on philosophical themes hosted by Augustana College's Dr. Deke Gould.

In Pi, the mathematician Maximillian Cohen (Sean Gullette), who has been tormented by a severe migraine since he was a kid, he uses many pills to reduce his painful headaches. He is a lonely man, and his only friend is his former professor Sol Robeson (Mark Margolis). Max also has three assumptions that effectively rule his life: (1) Mathematics is the language of nature; (2) Everything around us can be represented and understood from numbers; (3) If you graph the numbers in any system, patterns emerge -- therefore, there are patterns everywhere in nature. Based on these principles, Max tries to figure out a system to predict the behavior of the stock market. Due to his research, however, he is chased by a Wall Street company with obvious interest in the results of his studies, and also by a Chasidic Torah scholar, who believes that this long string of numbers is a code sent from God.

Written and directed by Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan, The Whale) in his feature directorial debut, 1998's Pi was filmed on high-contrast black-and-white reversal film. The title refers to the mathematical constant pi, and explores themes of religion, mysticism, and the relationship of the universe to mathematics. Produced on a budget of $134,815, the film was financially successful at the box office, grossing $3,221,152 in the United States despite only a limited theatrical release. It also sold steadily on DVD, and was the first film ever to be sold as a download on the Internet.

On the review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes, Pi has an 88-percent approval rating, the Web site's critical consensus reading: "Dramatically gripping and frighteningly smart, this Lynchian thriller does wonders with its unlikely subject and shoestring budget." ReelViews critic James Berardinelli, meanwhile, wrote, "Pi transports us to a world that is like yet unlike our own, and, in its mysterious familiarity, is eerie, intense, and compelling. Reality is a fragile commodity, but, because the script is well-written and the central character is strongly developed, it's not hard to suspend disbelief."

A pre-screening discussion on Pi will begin at 6:30 p.m. on April 30, the film will be shown at 7 p.m., and Augustana's Dr. Dere Gould will lead a post-screening discussion following the 84-minute film. Copies of the Filmsofia reading selection, 1978's "The Three Worlds," will be available in the café, and participation in all the evening's events are free. For information, call (309)200-0978 and visit RozzTox.com.