Zen Noir

Some potential viewers might dismiss this film because it is under 90 minutes long, which means it's not "feature length," but that would be doing the film a terrible disservice. Sure, it's "only" 71 minutes, but all 71 are well-spent, layering a sexy, strange mystery inside a world few of us Americans ever see. You'll never notice that it isn't a full-length film. And you won't be bored, not once.

A friend I saw the film with said the directing style was David Lynch-ish, but I cannot agree. I find that David Lynch sticks weird stuff in his movies to try to appear "arty," but in "Zen Noir" the strangeness just seems to fit effectively into the story without being distracting or pretentious (problems I have with Lynch films).

Also, this film is downright FUNNY. The lead actor is a hoot (even though it took me a little while to get used to his stylized acting), and the way the "calmer" characters interact with him really cracked me up.

Overall, this is an intelligent piece of cinema that a wide audience can certainly enjoy! It's very accessible, meaningful, mysterious, strange, funny and challenging. See it, see it, see it!