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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...

Mulholland Drive (2001)

8/10
Director: David Lynch
Starring: Justin Theroux, Naomi Watts, Ann Miller, Laura Harring, Robert Forster, Dan Heda...

David Lynch pulls out all the stops, upends all expectations, and, well, goes all Lynchian in this maniacal, mind-bending mix of Hollywood satire, fil... Read more

Thirteen Conversations About One Thing (2001)

7.1/10
Director: Jill Sprecher
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, John Turturro, Clea DuVall, Amy Irving, Alan Arkin

Engrossing, mosaic-like, philosophical drama follows a hot-shot attorney, a nebbish professor, an insurance company middle manager and a cheery maid w... Read more

A Beautiful Mind (2001)

8.2/10
Director: Ron Howard
Starring: Russell Crowe, Ed Harris, Jennifer Connelly, Christopher Plummer

Winner of four Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting Actress, Ron Howard's compelling, real life drama centers on J... Read more

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

8.8/10
Director: Peter Jackson
Starring: Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Ian Holm, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Cate Blanchett,...

In the first installment of director Peter Jackson's ambitious and successful film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy trilogy, Elijah Wood stars a... Read more

Vanilla Sky (2001)

6.9/10
Director: Cameron Crowe
Starring: Tom Cruise, Penelope Cruz, Noah Taylor, Kurt Russell, Jason Lee, Cameron Diaz

Director Cameron Crowe's re-working of the 1997 Spanish film 'Open Your Eyes' (inspired by a Philip K Dick novel, 'Ubik') stars Tom Cruise as a charmi... Read more

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)

6.4/10
Director: Hironobu Sakaguchi
Starring: Ming-Na, Voices Of, Ving Rhames, Steve Buscemi, James Woods, Donald Sutherland,...

The year is 2065 A.D. The Earth is infested with alien spirits and mankind faces total extinction. Led by a strange dream and guided by her mentor, Dr... Read more

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon ( Blu-ray ) (2000)

7.9/10
Director: Ang Lee
Starring: Chang Chen, Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi

A pair of martial arts masters and would-be lovers, an independent young woman with a dark secret, and the search for a stolen mystical sword all come... Read more

Molokai: The Story of Father Damien (2000)

6.9/10
Director: Paul Cox
Starring: David Wenham, Derek Jacobi, Sam Neill, Kris Kristofferson, Peter O'Toole

David Wenham plays the canonized Father Damien, a dedicated priest who sacrificed his own life in order to bring dignity and hope to the inhabitants o... Read more

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)

7.9/10
Director: Ang Lee
Starring: Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Chang Chen, Zhang Ziyi

A pair of martial arts masters and would-be lovers, an independent young woman with a dark secret, and the search for a stolen mystical sword all come... Read more

The Kid (2000)

6.1/10
Director: Jon Turteltaub
Starring: Bruce Willis, Spencer Breslin, Emily Mortimer, Lily Tomlin

As he approaches his 40th birthday, obnoxious image consultant Bruce Willis begins seeing a chubby 8 year-old boy wherever he goes - a boy that turns... Read more