Slow, solemn, reverent biopic, or perhaps hagiopic, on the 13th century Japanese monk, Dogen Zenji, who imported from China the “authentic” Buddhism founded on the central tenet of a sitting meditation, Zazen. The ingenuousness of director Banmei Takahashi, not to be mistaken for ingenuity, comes through steadily in his balanced and uncluttered images, and most disarmingly in bits of fantasy and lyricism fit for New Age-y greeting cards. The teachings of the master, passed along through the poker-faced actor, Kantaro Nakamura, will naturally be less familiar to Western viewers than the standard repertoire of Bible stories, though no less challenging. (The lesson imparted to a Mary Magdalene figure, a prostitute with a dying baby, packs a wallop.) Enlightenment, even for those able to stay awake throughout, lies beyond the film’s reach, but it makes a start. (2009) — Duncan Shepherd
This movie is not currently in theaters.