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Film recommendations
Lee82
Veteran
I'm looking for suggestions for buddhist/spiritual/life-affirming things to watch. What do you recommend and why?
Let's have them...
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Inside Out from Pixar animation studios. I relate it to Buddhism because it deals with psychology in an animated film that is appropriate both for adults and children. It doesn't talk about Buddhism at all though. Just psychology.
I did see that one a few years ago @Jeffrey. I recall the general story and what it looked like but might be worth a rewatch.
Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter... And Spring for starters, good Korean movie with strong Buddhist themes.
Groundhog Day you’ve probably seen, but it’s a funny comedy with a surprisingly Buddhist message.
Seven Years in Tibet I quite liked as well, it’s one of Brad Pitt’s better efforts.
I didn't really want to say what I had watched already as that might limit people putting forward their favs, and I like diving down new rabbit holes to see where it takes me. Here are some I've seen:
Spring, Summer...
Akiru
Unmistaken Child
Milarepa
Tree of Life
Cloud Atlas
Paris, Texas
Baraka
Samsara
Tashi and the monk
Into the Wild
Stand by me
The Straight Story
Requiem for a dream
The fountain
Ah yes have seen those, although haven't seen groundhog day in a long time. Rain man also.
Well here are a few more you can try...
Spirited Away in my eyes the best animated film of all time, I’m a big fan of Miyazaki
Three Colours: Blue, White, Red wonderful arthouse films though a little older now
Wild Reese Witherspoon takes off on a long solo hike, a good film
Of those you mention, Cloud Atlas and The Fountain are among my favourite films, and I’ve seen quite a few of the others. I’m a bit of a movie buff, my dvd collection requires considerable effort to move.
And my goodness, why has nobody mentioned 'The Matrix'...?!
Tashi and the Monk
... glad to see that again ...
Well he did say “life affirming”, I rather doubt the Matrix qualifies with all the guns, the dystopian future and so on.
Yeah, the later films, which I frankly feel lost an element of wonder... but the first film was a major 'boom' moment....
And the line "There IS no spoon" is a classic....
A few more...
The Way a wonderful film about the Camino de Santiago
The Life of Brian great comedies last forever, for when you take spirituality too seriously
Eat, Pray, Love underrated, it’s heart is definitely in the right place
Hey @Kerome, I've just ordered the Three Colours Trilogy off musicmagpie for £3.09 including postage, bargain!
Sounds like a very good buy... keep an eye out for the interlinking characters, there are short scenes where the characters from one movie appear in another. It’s all about the colours of the French flag, the themes of liberté, fraternité, egalité.
I should have mentioned A Good Year as well, which was a beautiful little film by Ridley Scott set on a wine estate in southern France, with some romance and some great acting.
Just finished watching Lean on Pete and can recommend it!
i enjoyed,seabiscuit,starring toby and jeff bridges who digs zen.meaningful statement of choosing life,just because your ding up,you dont throw a whole life away...paraphrasing. cryed hard in seabiscuits victory.
...forest gump,who hasn't seen it?he is a natural dao zen.sometimes being too smart,one may forego the heart.a path with heart always kills me in a good way.and the phrase,stupid is,is stupid does.dao zen mom teaches forest well,simple but deep.
for those who are chistian buddhist, showed an example of christzen:he who saves his life--too selfish--looses it.he who looses his life--selfles--saves it.mother board yin wins.
dragon ball super--broly.another daozen influence.
dances with wolves,native heart with dao.
i think i will quit now.
It contains fish
Jiro Dreams of Sushi
.
Interesting... I'd never come across Criterion before, must have been living in my cave too long:
https://www.criterion.com/shop/browse/list?sort=spine_number
Just a few more...
The Shawshank Redemption on the off chance you missed it, one of the world’s favourites
American Beauty a great film, very recognisable if you’re middle-aged
Sideways a fun California-wine-country comedy
Fight Club, often quoted as having a Buddhist undercurrent
Quite often quoted where?
Here - ay caramba ...
https://www.elephantjournal.com/2013/09/the-dharma-of-fight-club/
Zen (2009) The life story of Eihei Dogen, founder of Soto Zen, a beautifully acted and inspirational biopic. It gets better and better as it goes on.
My Neighbour Totoro (1988) A Studio Ghibli classic that celebrates our childhood connection with the natural world. Some Buddhist imagery.
Walk With Me (2017) A slow-moving documentary about Thich Nhat Hanh’s community in France.
Looking back, I’ve hardly seen any explicitly Buddhist movies. There are some I’d like to see:
Oseam (2003) Korean animated film.
Why Has Bodhi-Dharma Left For The East? (1989) Another Korean piece, live action, about three monks in a remote monastery.
I would argue that Ong Bak is an explicitly Buddhist movie. Either way, it's good
Not about Buddhist ideas aside from the idea of accepting companions who are sincerely difficult to be around but I just watched an 80s film that I loved laughing at but eventually was very touching...
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles with John Candy as what the bringer of the lojong training calls a "Bengali Tea Boy" after the teacher of lojong who brought an obnoxious companion on purpose for mind training...
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles!! Watch it!
Aha I’m glad this thread’s back. Thanks for the recommendation @Jeffrey, I’ll be sure to see it when I can.
I watched a lovely film called Oseam recently, which is a Korean animated movie about two orphaned children who are taken in by Buddhist monks. I found it very touching, as it comes out of a deeply Buddhist culture. Buddhist spirituality is in its DNA. It’s a sensitive, delightful film, possibly a good one for introducing kids to Buddhist culture.
Haven’t watched the John Candy film since I was a kid! Still remember bits of it. I’m sure I would have a different view of it now given me increased age and erm... wisdom haha.
My girlfriend was saying she views different than when she watched as a kid and it was my first time seeing the movie. It was a good comedy and also something more just a touch.
I like SF, despite not being rated very highly, I enjoyed this different take on a common theme ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Host_(2013_film)
Here are a few which are worth mentioning...
The Danish Girl, a film about the life of a transgender in the 1800’s
The Sea of Trees, downbeat, slightly gory, about suicide but still I felt it had something
Ex Machina, SF film about artificial intelligence, smart and emotionally interesting
The Hobbit, great fantasy romp, you have to love that dragon Smaug
The Green Mile, a drama about a man on death row who has a mysterious gift
The Green Book
The Upside.
Basically, if you find any movie where someone's 'Dark side' is transformed to a 'Light Side', you can find plenty of Buddhist aspects to it.
The Green Book was very good imo.
This Beautiful Fantastic is worth a watch also if you haven’t seen it. Currently on rent at £0.99 on Amazon UK.
Oh yes, saw that a couple of weeks ago. Quite delightful... I can equate with her OCD...!
Just watched cobra gypsies. Amazing. Hope documentaries count ...
https://topdocumentaryfilms.com/cobra-gypsies/
If not try 'Abominable', yep there is a Buddha in it ...
New film for the list that you absolutely must see...
The Game Changers
It is literally a game changer (and it’s available free on Netflix).
Yup. I mentioned it already. Good to see someone else is a fan. It certainly changed MY game, I can tell you!
I just watched The Laundromat, a film directed by Steven Soderbergh about the Panama Papers episode and about how the wealthy and corrupt hide their money. Interesting and well done. Also available on Netflix.
I like the way the narrator manages to blend the ancient widoms into one....
Samadhi Parts 1 & 2