PI (1998) Winner of the Directing Award at Sundance and Best First Screenplay at the Spirit Awards, Darren Aronofky’s Pi set a high bar for lo-fi sci-fi on its debut in 1998. A migraine-prone mathematician (Sean Gullette) may have discovered a formula for predicting the stock market or else the key for deciphering the nature of God. With both capitalists and cabalists after him, he also has to contend with the possibility that his mathematical formula may be messing with his very being. Shot on gritty, grainy, black and white 16mm, Pi inaugurated a wave of independent science fiction and launched one of the most polarizing careers in contemporary cinema. 35mm, b&w, 84 min. Director: Darren Aronofsky. Screenwriters: Darren Aronofsky, Sean Gullette, Eric Watson. With: Sean Gullette, Mark Margolis, Ben Shenkman. TETSUO: THE IRON MAN (1989) Science fiction and science fetish collide in Japanese writer-director Shinya Tsukamoto’s preeminent cult classic, a body horror mashup of Cronenberg and Švankmajer, sutured together with low-budget ingenuity and nightmares. An origin story with little regard for narrative coherence, Tetsuo: The Iron Man confronts us with the transformation of an anonymous salaryman, after killing a metal fetishist in the street, into a surreal automata of jagged gears, wires, plates and circuits. As his flesh recedes, his libidinous urges surge much to the horror of his girlfriend who bears witness to his madness. DCP, b&w, in Japanese with English subtitles, 67 min. Director: Shinya Tsukamoto. Screenwriter: Shinya Tsukamoto. With: Tomorowo Taguchi, Kei Fujiwara, Shinya Tsukamoto.