A detective receives a call about a murder at the Buddhist Temple. He enters the Zendo, with his gun drawn, and pointing it at the rows of black-clad, shaven-headed meditators, shouts "Nobody move!" Now, if you get the humor in that, this film is for you. If you do not get the humor in that, please avoid this one; you'll feel bored, confused, and cheated.
This is a clever little Indie about the zen experience. The casting is good, the dialog sufficient. It's funny and sad and pithy and cosmic, and the writer/director struggled for many years to make it happen, but it's a film for insiders only. There was a steady stream of people leaving the theatre the night I saw it - maybe 20% of the audience left the place -- which is unusual for San Francisco. People are usually on the patient side here, especially with "art films" and exotica. Even I did not stay for q & a with Rosenbush. As I mingled with the crowd leaving the theatre at the end of the film I was hearing a lot of negative comments, but they were the comments of people who had no idea what they had just seen. How many people have a background in emptiness and egolessness? These are just not common concepts in American pop culture.
This film is opening in a dozen cities next month, which is good, but there should be a disclaimer so a lot of people don't waste their money, time and attention, and give it a bad rap, which it definitely does not deserve.
P.S. For a much more accessible treatment of Buddhism, see the diamond-perfect Korean film "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring Again." No pre-requisites for that one.
P.P.S. - I got a real kick out of the review from Boulder. Ha! If there ever was a film made for Boulder Buddhists, this is it. Probably the only place on earth, outside Dharmsala, that would draw a packed house and a standing ovation. ha!
