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Zen (2009 film)

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Genre
  
Biography, Drama

Initial release
  
January 10, 2009

Running time
  
2h 8m

7.4/10
IMDb

Duration
  

Director
  
Banmei Takahashi

A movie poster of the 2009 film “Zen” starring Nakamura Kantarō II as Dogen (upper image), On below image are Tatsuya Fujiwara as Tokiyori Hōjō, Nakamura and Yuki Uchida as Orin (left to right). Nakamura seriously looks above while holding a long thin wood in his right hand and a bamboo hat in his left hand, he is standing under the sun, with mountains in his background and green grass on a lake wearing a black hanbok. Tatsuya, seriously looking while raising his right hand, he has black hair wearing a black gat and a red hanbok, Nakamura (center below), smiling with a bald, wearing a black hanbok, and Yuki looks confused in a pink blossom flowers on her background with her black hair wearing an orange hanbok

Writer
  
Banmei Takahashi (screenplay), Tetsuo Otani (novel)

Genres
  
Drama, Biographical film, Chinese Movies

Cast
  
Kantarô Nakamura
(Dogen),
Yuki Uchida
(Orin),
Ryushin Tei
(Ji-uen / Kugyo Minamoto),
Kengo Kora
,
Tatsuya Fujiwara
,
Jun Murakami

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,
How To Cook Your Life
,
Peace Is Every Step
,
Mindful Movements: Gentle, Contemplative Exercises with the Monks and Nuns of Plum Village
,
The Last Emperor
,
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring

"Zen" is a 2009 film directed by Banmei Takahashi and starring Nakamura Kantarō II as Dogen, and Yuki Uchida as Orin.

Contents

A movie poster of the 2009 film “Zen”, in Korean writing with Nakamura standing in green grass on a lake in its background wearing a black hanbok

The film is a biography of Dōgen Zenji (道元禅師) (19 January 1200 – 22 September 1253), a Japanese Zen Buddhist teacher. After travelling to China to study, Dogen founded the Sōtō school of Zen in Japan. The Buddhist Film Foundation described it as "a poignant, in-depth, reverent and surprisingly moving portrait of Eihei Dogen."

A movie poster of the 2009 film “Zen” starring Nakamura Kantarō II as Dogen (upper image), On below image are Tatsuya Fujiwara as Tokiyori Hōjō, Nakamura and Yuki Uchida as Orin (left to right). Nakamura seriously looks above while holding a long thin wood in his right hand and a bamboo hat in his left hand, he is standing under the sun, with mountains in his background and green grass on a lake wearing a black hanbok. Tatsuya, seriously looking while raising his right hand, he has black hair wearing a black gat and a red hanbok, Nakamura (center below), smiling with a bald, wearing a black hanbok, and Yuki looks confused in a pink blossom flowers on her background with her black hair wearing an orange hanbok

Zen - Official Trailer


Reception

Russell Edwards of Variety described it as "The origins of a spiritual tradition are depicted with prerequisite solemnity and a pleasing veneer of arthouse showmanship." Mark Schilling, writing for The Japan Times, gave the film three and a half stars and described it as a "rare serious film about this form of Buddhism, which has had a huge cultural influence but is little understood — let alone practiced — by ordinary Japanese."

Release

The film premiered in Japan in 2009. The following year, it had its US debut at the International Buddhist Film Festival. The film was released on DVD and includes a short documentary entitled The Zen of Dogen with Kazuaki Tanahashi.

References

Zen (2009 film) Wikipedia
(Text) CC BY-SA

Zen (2009 film) IMDb Zen (2009 film) themoviedb.org