Zen (2009)

Name: Zen
Genre: Drama, History
Released: 2009-01-10
Duration: 127 min
Rating: 7.1
Cast: Kantarô Nakamura, Yuki Uchida, Ryushin Tei, Kengo Kora, Tatsuya Fujiwara

Zen (2009), directed by Banmei Takahashi, starring Kantarô Nakamura and Yuki Uchida.

01/10/2009 BR Drama and History 2h 7m

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Synopsis

In the early 1200s, Dogen brought Chinese Zen philosophy to Japan, and established the Japanese Zen school of Buddhism. He taught that a person was capable of realizing Buddhahood within himself, by way of Zazen. Zazen is extended hours of sitting and meditating to achieve a state of “Mu” (nothingness, or empty existence).

水口智之Cinematography
Banmei TakahashiDirector, Screenplay
菊池純一Editing
Ryudo UzakiOriginal music

About the film

Zen (Japanese: 禅) is a 2009 film directed by Banmei Takahashi and starring Nakamura Kantarō II as Dogen, and Yuki Uchida as Orin. The story is based on the novel Eihei no kaze: Dōgen no shōgai written by Tetsuo Ōtani in 2001.

The film is a biography of Dōgen Zenji, 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."

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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

External links

Zen at IMDb

Zen at Rotten Tomatoes

Text from Zen (2009 film) on Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_(2009_film)

Trivia

It grossed US$ 2.9 million worldwide.
It premiered on January 10, 2009, a Saturday.
It runs 2h07 — a typical feature length.
Its original title is "禅".
This film's quiz has 11 questions — enough to play more than once without repeats.

Production

StudiosKADOKAWA
CountriesJapan
LanguagesJapanese, Mandarin
Box officeUS$ 2,877,113
StatusReleased

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Crew

水口智之 Cinematography
Banmei Takahashi Director
菊池純一 Editing
Ryudo Uzaki Original music
Banmei Takahashi Screenplay

Questions about this film

What is Zen about?

Zen: In the early 1200s, Dogen brought Chinese Zen philosophy to Japan, and established the Japanese Zen school of Buddhism. He taught that a person was capable of realizing Buddhahood within himself, by way of Zazen. Zazen is extended hours of sitting and meditating to achieve a state of “Mu” (nothingness, or empty existe…

Who directed Zen?

Zen was directed by Banmei Takahashi in 2009.

Who stars in Zen?

The cast of Zen includes Kantarô Nakamura, Yuki Uchida, Ryushin Tei, Kengo Kora and Tatsuya Fujiwara.

How long is Zen?

Zen runs for 127 minutes, or 2h07.