This Bernardo Bertolucci film feels like two films stuck together, one more compelling than the other.

| Jan 11, 2022

It is refreshing to find a heavy-hitting European auteur telling his story with such directness, and delightful to see a serious, artistically exacting film for children, even if you suspect it will soar over that audience.

| Nov 13, 2017

In a quiet way, this gorgeous movies accomplishes many things.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Aug 16, 2017

An intimate, spiritual film from Bertolucc, which trying to combine elements of mysticism and Western culture.

| Original Score: B- | Jul 16, 2012

Excellent introduction to Buddhism--strongest portions are mythical excerpts of Buddha's life.

| Original Score: B- | Apr 4, 2008

Although the search for enlightenment may not have much in the way of high-concept appeal, the film should satisfy adventurous moviegoers as well as the large number of adults already intrigued by eastern religions.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 7, 2007

Bertolucci's celebrated burnt-orange-and-burnished-lemon look remains handsome, and the story itself still commands some interest as a pivot into daunting material.

| Dec 7, 2007

Bertolucci's epic is a disappointment.

| Jun 24, 2006

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Mar 8, 2005

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 4, 2004

A crazily mesmerizing pop artifact that ranks alongside Herman Hesse's novel Siddhartha in terms of extreme earnestness and quasi-religious entertainment value.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Aug 30, 2004

Has some captivating qualities about both contemporary American life and Tibetan Buddhism.

| Original Score: B | May 12, 2004

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | May 20, 2003

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 29, 2002

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 16, 2002

A well-realized parable about Siddhartha, the Dalai Lama, reincarnation, and a boy's journey of discovery and death.

| Feb 13, 2002

Part fairy tale, part travelogue, and part kindergarten lesson in Eastern religion. Not a single part is persuasive or compelling.

Full Review | Jan 9, 2002

Though uneven, the film is engagingly moving and often humorous.

| Jan 1, 2000

Some of the movie's mysteries are more unsuccessfully secular than rapturously eternal, but the doorway opens far enough to offer a few glimpses of nirvana.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 1, 2000

Cynics may turn away, but I found the ideas and their execution quite fascinating.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jan 1, 2000