CONSCIOUS CINEMA
nesia. What should have been an uplifting account
of the experiences of the best-selling writer (Julia
Roberts) comes across as more of a stylish travel-
ogue than an insightful look at how she personally
grew and evolved. Pick up the book instead.
Taking a softball approach to its subject matter
is also a problem for “Rabbit Hole” (2010), the
dramatic account of a young mother (Nicole Kid-
man) coping with the loss of her child in a tragic
traffic accident. It’s an incident that prompts her to
look within to decipher the meaning of existence,
a journey with the potential to unlock a host of
metaphysical insights for the earnestly searching
protagonist. Unfortunately, the film’s light-handed
treatment of its material hamstrings the picture,
turning it into more of a conventional tearjerker
than a vehicle for meaningful insight.
award-winning space adventure “Gravity” (2013),
a film that, in many ways, feels like a warmed-over
version of “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968) – and
fails to match the cinematic brilliance of its prede-
cessor. The dazzling special effects in “Gravity” are
undeniably gorgeous to look at (especially on a big
screen), but its disappointing story line comes up
short in the originality and enlightenment depart-
ments.
Movies that chronicle individual odysseys of
self-discovery are incredibly popular with con-
scious cinema audiences. But, for a picture to suc-
ceed on this front, it must have substantive mate-
rial to present, a quality decidedly lacking in the
film version of “Eat Pray Love” (2010), author Liz
Gilbert’s memoir of her journey of personal awak-
ening through her travels to Italy, India and Indo-
37 | HAPI Guide
When metaphysically oriented releases attempt to
probe profound, useful concepts (especially those
as inherently liberating as conscious creation),
they can shoot themselves in the foot by placing