Kundun

In Brief: "Important" films from Martin Scorsese tend to be divisive, not only because audiences would rather see him reiterate the same gangster tropes in perpetuity  (remember when nobody showed up for his excellent Silence last year?), but also because the director himself seems to get a little lost when he starts dealing with more serious subject matter. While The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) was an excellent example of what Scorsese can accomplish with heavily religious material, Kundun (1998) has been widely cited as case study of where he can go wrong. This biopic — focused on the life of the 14th Dalai Lama, beautifully photographed by Richard Deakins and with a riveting score from Philip Glass — represents Scorsese at his most pensive, but ultimately, its episodic narrative structure, venerative tone and lengthy running time turned off audiences and critics alike. Still, it's better than I remembered and it undoubtedly holds a special place in the Scorsese canon.