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Movies / On DVD / Enlighten Up!
Enlighten Up!

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Enlighten Up! (2009)

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Reviews Counted:10

Fresh:6

Rotten:4

Average Rating:5.9/10

Consensus: Enlighten Up! is a funny, warmhearted documentary that's uneven in spots, but thought-provoking nonetheless.

Rated: Not Rated

Runtime: 82 mins

Genre: Education/General Interest

Theatrical Release:Apr 3, 2009 Limited

Box Office: $227,790

Synopsis: Kate Churchill is a filmmaker and a dedicated yoga practitioner who insists that yoga can transform anyone. She decides to prove it. Her plan: select a subject, immerse him in yoga and follow him... Kate Churchill is a filmmaker and a dedicated yoga practitioner who insists that yoga can transform anyone. She decides to prove it. Her plan: select a subject, immerse him in yoga and follow him until he finds a yoga practice that transforms him. Her subject: Nick Rosen a skeptical, 29 year-old journalist living in New York City.

Intrigued by the opportunity to peek behind the curtain of a 5.7 billion dollar “spiritual” industry, Nick signs on to investigate yoga for 6 months. Before he can say OM, he finds himself twisted up like a pretzel, surrounded by celebrity yogis, true believers, kooks, entrepreneurs and a gentle teacher from Brazil who leads his class with his feet behind his head.

The more Nick investigates yoga the more contradictions he discovers, leading him to question whether yoga is anything more than a workout. As Nick searches for concrete facts and discards the lofty spiritual theories of his yoga teachers, he strays further from Kate’s original plan. The two find themselves lost in Northern India, embroiled in a struggle between Kate’s expectations and Nick’s overt rejection of “spirituality.”

They circle the globe talking to mystics, gurus, mad men and saints searching for the true meaning of yoga. Ultimately, both Nick and Kate end up in places they never could have imagined. They don’t find the answers to their questions, they find much more. --© Official Site [More]

Starring: Nick Rosen

Starring: Nick Rosen

Director: Kate Churchill

Director: Kate Churchill
Story: Khari Streeter, Jonathon Hexner, Kate Churchill
Producer: Kate Churchill
Composer: Krishna Venkatesh
Studio: Balcony Releasing

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Release:

Nov 10, 2009

[DVD Details]
 
 

DVD Features:

  • Region [unknown]

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo - English
  • Dolby Digital 5.1 - English
 
 
 
 

Reviews for Enlighten Up!

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1 - 10 (sorted by date)
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Director Kate Churchill ends up with a non-story in her feature Enlighten Up! when her subject fails to experience the changes she had been expecting.

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
08/28/09
Greg Quill
Greg Quill
Toronto Star
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

What's Rosen's dating life got to do with yoga? Nothing really, beyond a director's last-ditch attempt to show dramatic tension in her film before it peters out into inconclusiveness.

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
08/27/09
Liam Lacey
Liam Lacey
Globe and Mail
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Enlighten Up! is a low-key, charming trip.

Full Review Source: Dallas Morning News | comment Comment
06/19/09
Cary Darling
Cary Darling
Dallas Morning News
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This is a peaceful kind of film, not terribly eventful, but I suppose we wouldn’t want a yoga thriller. Relax. Let it happen. Or not.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
06/11/09
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

As a movie, Enlighten Up! doesn't really go anywhere.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
06/05/09
Michael O'Sullivan
Michael O'Sullivan
Washington Post
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When Nick encounters B.K.S. Iyengar, the legendary guruji and one of the foremost figures of yoga, Churchill's mostly lightweight film radiates some spiritual light.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Inquirer | comment Comment
05/29/09
Carrie Rickey
Carrie Rickey
Philadelphia Inquirer
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The breezy title of this engaging documentary suggests that it isn't going to solve the big questions of life, but will at least treat its subject -- yoga in its many forms from the sublime to the utterly absurd -- with humor and an open spirit.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
05/01/09
Walter V. Addiego
Walter V. Addiego
San Francisco Chronicle
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Its director winds up focusing on the least interesting/most predictable tension of them all, that which arises between herself and her handpicked, inflexible star.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
04/01/09
Michelle Orange
Michelle Orange
Village Voice
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Enlighten Up! explores its subject with a light touch and welcome sense of humor.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
04/01/09
Nathan Lee
Nathan Lee
New York Times
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Well-crafted pic traverses the globe, interviewing a who's-who of gurus and investigating a wide range of regimens -- with Rosen as both questioner and body-contorting guinea pig.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
03/31/09
Ronnie Scheib
Ronnie Scheib
Variety
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