Below is a list of movies and TV shows started by our guiding priest, Taigen Dan Leighton, with comments, for watching while sheltered in place.
Classic cinema
- Casablanca – You Must Remember This
- The Big Lebowski – Amid all the changes, the Dude Abides
- Field of Dreams – my favorite baseball movie ever, if you build it they will come, the greatest Chicago ballplayer ever (not Ernie, think Southside), and o yeah, the way James Earl Jones says Base-ball
- Ghost – great love story, great ghost story, and great comedy thanks to Whoopi all in one, subway training scenes are favorites
- Men in Black – out of this world, my favorite American Dharma movie
- The Hurricane – Here comes the story of the Hurricane
- Hugo – My favorite Martin Scorsese movie, and also my favorite movie about filmmaking.
- Dances with Wolves – yet another Kevin Costner gem, the true sad story of the decimation of America’s native people
- Ferris Bueller’s Day Off – the best Chicago movie ever? and a favorite comedy
- Malcolm – Denzel and Spike Lee, mandatory history lesson
- Mo’ Better Blues – my favorite jazz film, more Denzel and Spike Lee
- Almost Famous – one of the best rock films
- Notting Hill – my favorite romantic comedy
- Ground Hog Day – Oh no not again, every day is a good day
- JFK – more relevant history from Kevin Costner and Oliver Stone
- Ugetsu – my favorite Japanese movie, an historical epic
- Tampopo – Great Japanese comedy about discipleship
- Masked and Anonymous – for fellow Dylan fans
Recent movies
- Harriet – story of the great Harriet Tubman freeing slaves
- Motherless Brooklyn – brilliant movie written, directed, and starring Edward Norton; Sam Spade with Aspergers, and history of NYC corruption
- At Eternity’s Gate – Willem Dafoe’s Van Gogh, beautiful
- A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood – a film about bodhisattva kindness
- The Wife – Glenn Close and a literary prize
- Parasite – S. Korean gem about class war
Television series
3 Comedies all on Amazon:
- The Kominsky Method – Michael Douglas and Alan Arkin on the pain and glory of aging.
- The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel – stand-up comedy, starting in the 60s Village
- Fleabag – brilliant raunchy British humor with a sexy priest
also:
- This Is Us – always moving family drama
- A Million Little Things – a community drama, poignant
Other recommendations
- from Dale Kaufman: Yunis Emre (on Netflix): A unique unlikely gem! 45 episode, 2 season Turkish series (with subtitles) about a Sufi mystic poet’s life and spiritual quest
- from Mark Pringle: The Dectectorists – an offbeat BBC comedy series which follows the lives of two eccentric metal detectorists. Sweet, gentle, insightful. Gets 8.6 on IMDB. https://www.imdb.com/title/
tt4082744/ - From Rev. Eden Kevin Heffernan, Richmond Zen [VA] :
These films are science fiction for people who don’t think they like science fiction. They are also for lovers of Dharma of intimacy, and time & space.
- Her
An inquiry into identity, relationship, consciousness, and love masquerading as a science fiction romantic comedy. Bonus: Alan Watts plays a pivotal role. - Arrival
Gorgeously filmed, heartfully played story about the challenges of language/communication, the nature of time, facing the unknown, and embracing the known. Bonus: a visual language that looks a lot like ensos! Extra bonus: no laser beams. - More earthly, see the unlikely YouTube phenomenon Lizhiqi, whose short video meditations on everyday chores are centered around cooking in Chinese rural life:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoC47do520os_ 4DBMEFGg4A
- Her
Feel free to send any submissions you have to info@ancientdragon.org!