Spiritual Cinema
"Movies containing spiritual, metaphysical, conscious or similar messages or themes".
Simon Keyes explains the idea behind Spiritual Cinema.
It is the extraordinary power of cinema, high or low, serious and exploitative, to move and disturb us that we should celebrate and embrace in all its diversity. Films can fertilise our inner lives and provide a counter-balance to that compartmentalisation of our "religious" selves that Thomas Merton dubbed our "personal holiness project". The feelings and shadows that films (well, perhaps not quite every movie) incarnate in us give us privileged access to the world beyond our immediate experience. The sights and sounds of cinema can resonate in the realms of the unconscious and the archetypal like no other medium, and there is much for us to learn about ourselves in this experience.
Below is a list of "the best of" this genre...
Mother! (Blu-Ray) (2017)
6.7/10
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Starring: Ed Harris, Javier Bardem, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jennifer Lawrence, Domhnall Gleeson...
A couple's relationship is tested when uninvited guests arrive at their home, disrupting their tranquil existence. From filmmaker Darren Aronofsky (Bl... Read more
Pilgrimage (2017)
5.8/10
Director: Brendan Muldowney
Starring: John Lynch, Richard Armitage, Jon Bernthal, Tom Holland
In the 13th century, Irish monks embark on a reluctant pilgrimage to escort their monastery's holiest relic to Rome. Their mission soon becomes fraugh... Read more
A Ghost Story (2017)
6.9/10
Director: David Lowery
Starring: Casey Affleck, Rooney Mara
A passionate young couple, unexpectedly separated by a shocking loss, discover an eternal connection and a love that is infinite. Read more
Silence (2016)
7.2/10
Director: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Ciaran Hinds, Liam Neeson, Tadanobu Asano, Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver
Legendary director Martin Scorsese's "Silence" tells the powerful story of two 17th-century Christian missionaries (Adam Driver and Andrew Garfield) w... Read more
Heaven Is For Real (2014)
5.8/10
Director: Randall Wallace
Starring: Greg Kinnear, Margo Martindale, Kelly Reilly, Connor Corum
Based on the #1 New York Times best selling book, this film recounts the story of a small-town father who must find the courage and conviction to shar... Read more
We Have a Pope ( Habemus Papam ) (2012)
6.7/10
Director: Nanni Moretti
Starring: Margherita Buy, Michel Piccoli, Nanni Moretti, Jerzy Stuhr
At the Vatican, following the demise of the Pope, the conclave to elect his successor settles on Cardinal Melville. But the faithful gathered in St Pe... Read more
The Tree of Life ( Blu-ray ) (2011)
6.8/10
Director: Terrence Malick
Starring: Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Jessica Chastain
Written and directed by Terrence Malick, this complex and thought-provoking exploration of the human condition stars Brad Pitt as the patriarch of a M... Read more
The Tree of Life (2011)
6.8/10
Director: Terrence Malick
Starring: Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Jessica Chastain
Written and directed by Terrence Malick, this complex and thought-provoking exploration of the human condition stars Brad Pitt as the patriarch of a M... Read more
The Way (2010)
7.4/10
Director: Emilio Estevez
Starring: Deborah Kara Unger, James Nesbitt, Martin Sheen, Tcheky Karyo, Yorick van Wageni...
Martin Sheen plays Tom, an irascible American doctor who comes to France to deal with the tragic loss of his son (played by real-life son Emilio Estev... Read more
Le Quattro Volte ( Four Times ) (2010)
7.2/10
Director: Michelangelo Frammartino
Starring: Giuseppe Fuda, Bruno Timpano, Nazareno Timpano
An unclassifiably brilliant reverie on life, death, nature and the splendours of Calabria, "Le Quattro Volte" is a deceptively simple and playfully ph... Read more