Zen

Being partially a biopic that barely conveys anything about the person except the generalized platitudes he lived by and after his death, you can still understand by the end that expecting something grandiose from a movie about Zazen would be a contradiction to the whole concept. So it goes: a rough chronology of how he brought his knowledge from China to Japan, mixed with morality tales, with some being straight up from Buddha lore itself. As for actually understanding the advantages that the act of sitting and thinking about nothing and sipping boiled water brings to one's existence, well, no comfort here. Being poor, miserable, or disenfranchised in the 13th century could drive a person anywhere to seek purpose.

The atmosphere is exceptional. You can really immerse yourself in Dogen's meditative perspective thanks to long contemplative scenes of essentially nothing but his surroundings. A lot of scenes of "unrealistic beauty" just add to how he sees the world on this path to enlightenment. The score is fantastic as well. Especially the ending track.

The supporting characters exist solely to provide a layman's viewpoint and range from mildly interesting to bland. With some truly awful scenes of physical acting that significantly take away from immersion in the supposed drama the movie tries to showcase.