This movie works best if you think of it as a depiction of a dream--at least it seemed a lot like my dreams--various sequences loosely connected. I practice zen (committed practice for 8 years with a local Sangha) and it didn't seem exploitative of zen and its take is a little more serious than pop culture. Don't subject the plot to too much analysis. Like I said, it is a lot more like a dream that follows associative logic rather than logical plot development--so don't worry about the loose ends

I have just started studying Buddhism and Zen, so I could smile at the Zen humor. On the other hand, my wife and son just stared at the screen in complete boredom. I know this movie is a koan, 2 weeks later I am still trying to figure it out. A koan cannot be figured out with logic, so be prepared to feel confused (koans are supposed to confuse you) about how loved ones die and leave us heart broken, people in general just die, people commit suicide, and how all of us are slowly dying. All this death is like eating an orange. Hey, is that the answer to the koan?

A good movie is like an onion with many layers of meaning, and this is a good movie. It requires paying attention. What I learned most from it is to acknowledge fears, sit with the feeling and then, and only then, can we move on. Death is a universal fear and avoiding acknowledging our fear is a universal way of dealing with it. Zen Noir is a powerful and healing meditation on death but it is also funny and a love story. It clearly deserved the many awards it won...and I'm going to watch it again and again.

An uptight Sam Spade type private Eye comes to investigate a crime at a Zen Center and gets more than his left-brain-only view of the world had bargained for. One of my 100 favorite all time

Despite a few cliched moments, the film is smart and stylish, cagily self-conscious, appealing but not mesmerizing, beautiful, but fortunately not gorgeous. Its message is a meditation on the complexion of death as part of life, successfully generating the idea of death as life's beginning. The idea itself rebukes post-modern culture, and the film works hard to engage that. But a disappointing script, and editing which strives for supra noir effect, leaves the impression of a film without real justification except artfulness. Not a bad cause, but one to be considered before purchase. Still, a film 'about' Zen is bound to be captivating especially for Zennists, and perhaps western Buddhists in general. I enjoyed it, but have difficulty recommending it for most viewers even though most of us need the message desperately. The film is darkly hilarious, and yet shallow given the prospects raised by the title's idea. Rosenbush takes an intriguing run with it. How well he fares is a question up for grabs, decided by one's interest in things fanciful and yet strangely intimate. The film's artifice is its magic, and it's often winning, but never transforming. For what it's worth, I'm many years a Zen practitioner.

It may help people unfamiliar with Zen to know that sometimes a Zen master may assign the student a koan (ko an) to wrestle with. A koan is a story or question that seems nonsensical or paradoxical, but which makes sense if the student is able to shake off his/her normal assumptions about how the universe works and who the student is within that context. For anyone who is interested in this, a couple of good starting points are: [[ASIN:1400047641 Bring Me the Rhinoceros: And Other Zen Koans to Bring You Joy]] and [[ASIN:0804831866 Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings]]. I was fortunate enough to buy Bring me the Rhinoceros when it was still in print, but your local library may have a copy.

I absolutely loved it. Not for kids and could create some missconception or confusion for people who have not practiced Zen. It is quite raw, entertaining and on the money.

Enjoyable.