Zen Noir
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[edit] Blurb
THE STORY
A nameless detective, still mourning the loss of his wife, investigates a mysterious death in a Buddhist temple, but his logical, left-brained crime-solving skills are useless in the intuitive, non-linear world of Zen.
While attempting to question the inhabitants of the temple -- Ed, a monk with an attitude and secrets to hide; Jane, a beautiful, mysterious, bald femme fatale; and the Master, an infuriatingly obscure Zen teacher, who does a lot of strange things with oranges – the Detective’s logical mind is thwarted at every turn by his suspects' Zen thinking...
Detective: Where were you at the time of the murder?
Monk: What exactly do you mean by time?
Increasingly confused and unnerved, haunted by his dead wife’s ghost, and with his investigation going nowhere, the Detective finds himself drawn into a deeper, darker, more personal mystery, where he must confront terrifying questions about love and loss, which lead to a startling realization: the mystery he's there to solve isn't a murder at all, but the mystery of death itself.[1]
[edit] View from Nowhere
This aint Zen. As a Zen monastic for over 7 yrs I do not feel that this movie offers anything in the way of dharma. There's a death, possibly a murder in a temple. No one who lives in the temple gives a shit. Why? They are full of alan watts type dharma and cliche actions and lines. Here's a good one- the female temple resident is questioned by the detective as to whether or not she is a monk. She says "No, I am a lay student" he says "What does that mean?" She says "It means I can still get laid" and she then proceeds to have sex with him. Lovely. This is maybe a teenage boy's fantasy of what it is to be a Buddhist practitioner. It is not in a reality realm. I watched this film with 6 other practitioners and monks. When the movie was over only myself and another person were still in the room. When I asked him how he felt, he said "dirty" and I agree. The movie left me feeling dirty and embarrassed. If that's Zen, I'll burn my robes and go back to being a Catholic.
[edit] Other Views from Nowhere
