Zen Noir (2004)
Average Rating: 3.4/10
Reviews Counted: 14
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 10
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 3.9/10
Critic Reviews: 6
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 4
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.8/5
User Ratings: 563
Movie Info
A death has occurred in a Buddhist temple, but in order to solve the crime, the nameless detective in charge of the investigation must let go of his logic and rely on the intuitive, non-linear world of Zen in director Marc Rosenbush's abstruse comic mystery. Still in mourning from the recent loss of his wife, the detective must first question Ed; a secretive monk whose bad attitude immediately raises a red flag. When subsequent discussions with chrome domed femme fatale Jane and the
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Cast
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Duane Sharp
The Detective -
Kim Chan
The Master -
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Debra Miller
Jane -
Jennifer Siebel
Nora -
Howard Fong
The Dead Monk -
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All Critics (17) | Top Critics (8) | Fresh (4) | Rotten (10)
...An irritating exercise in ham acting, metaphysical patter routines, and rim-shot-style comic editing.
Top CriticInsufferably coy.
Even at 71 minutes, this shoestring-budget production seems overlong and undernourished.
Rosenbush's cinematic experiment generates so little excitement I doubt whether you'll hear even the sound of one hand clapping.
A provocative, witty -- and admittedly esoteric -- experimental comedy that is serious, amusing and satisfying.
For all its shortcomings, Zen Noir still entertains.
It plays like a short film extended to the length of a feature ... and assembled by someone who appears to have seen a bunch of David Lynch movies and not quite understood them.
Like its hero, Zen Noir doesn't exist for even a second outside the vocabulary of the film world.
Writer/director Marc Rosenbush's first film, from the false toughness of its surface to its soft, pulpy heart, will please neither aficionados of the detective genre nor devotees of Eastern religion.
The acting is stylized, the sets are stylized, the editing is stylized, all toward a Zen-like minimalist aesthetic.
Any hopes that Marc Rosenbush's film might transcend its unimaginative title are dashed almost immediately, as manic fade-outs, fade-ins and overlays of portentous symbols give way to mannered dialogue and bad jokes.
Any one of a thousand can spoof noir. One in a thousand can spoof it well.
...indulges in a lot of jumpcuts and flashy montages that quickly prove more irritating than expressive. Even at 65 minutes (plus credits), this one feels too long.
A fascinating, if somewhat pretentious little film that's not exactly the cut and dried crime drama that The Detective might have expected.
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Movie: ID: 326434134 Title: Zen Noir Release Date: 2006-09-15 00:00:00.0 MPAA: 6 Status: 1
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