| Original Score: B | Jan 22, 2013

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jan 22, 2013

One doesn't have to be a Buddhist to perceive themes of circularity and renewal in Samsara, but it takes that level of patience to suffer its frequent low points with silence and good humour.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Oct 5, 2012

A continuous flow of images of the natural world and the human tide that dominates it.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 4, 2012

A Balinese dancer, an African tribesman, a disfigured marine, a Japanese stripper all stand composed, confident, and dignified, daring you to break the gaze.

| Sep 24, 2012

I'd be happy to have the lovely, 70mm images of Samsara as my computer screensaver, but I can't pretend that they combine for more collective substance than a series of adorable cat pictures.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Sep 14, 2012

"Samsara" finds the world a little less blessed than it was two decades ago, yet still beautiful, which seems to be the movie's primary message.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Sep 14, 2012

Fricke and his crew capture such moments as a Hawaiian volcano erupting to life with a stunning, you-are-there clarity. But the film winds up being a collection of striking visuals without any emotional heft.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Sep 13, 2012

"Samsara" is a ravishing visual experience, but it carries a message that at least some viewers will find less than compelling.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Sep 7, 2012

The result is like an issue of National Geographic gone mad.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Sep 6, 2012

Samsara stares at Asian temples, African tribesmen, and chickens bound for slaughter with the same blank eye.

| Original Score: B- | Sep 6, 2012

A world of wonders without a guide or an agenda, "Samsara" rewards a leap of faith.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Sep 6, 2012

Any sincerity inherent in the project is overwhelmed by the manufactured awe of its godawful New Age score.

| Sep 6, 2012

"Samsara" is gorgeous. And sometimes, depending on expectations, looks are enough.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 6, 2012

Filmed over five years, in locations in 25 countries, it is the kind of experience you simply sink into.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Sep 6, 2012

Fricke's great gift is his talent for framing images in such a coolly precise fashion that some part of the nasty 21st-century brain suspects digital retouching.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 31, 2012

I'm not convinced that Fricke's movies are much more than exalted travelogues, but you certainly feel as if you've been somewhere after you've seen one of them.

| Original Score: B | Aug 31, 2012

The makers of "Samsara" want to free our minds, but their technique makes us their prisoners more often than not.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Aug 30, 2012

There may be no words within "Samsara," a visually startling work of global cinematography. But there is a narrative, one by which the movie undermines itself.

| Aug 30, 2012

It may be just more of the same from Fricke, but with his unique process, another incredible-looking lap around the world is more than welcome.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 30, 2012