55
Metascore
12 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 75TV Guide MagazineKen FoxTV Guide MagazineKen FoxSebastien Pentecouteau's startlingly beautiful cinematography lends the film a dreamlike quality and perfectly suits Kounen's mystical subject matter.
- 75Seattle Post-IntelligencerBill WhiteSeattle Post-IntelligencerBill WhiteMovies about gurus generally fail to capture the charisma of their subjects. French director Jan Kounen's documentary on Amma, India's hugging saint, who allegedly has given restorative embraces to more than 45 million supplicants, is no exception.
- 70VarietyLisa NesselsonVarietyLisa NesselsonDocu's pace will be a little too meditative for many, but the rigorous, sinewy lensing will have Hypnotic power on those so inclined.
- Filling our heads with pretty pictures and not much else, Darshan: The Embrace is likely to leave audiences enchanted but unenlightened.
- 50New York PostV.A. MusettoNew York PostV.A. MusettoWhen it comes to magnetism, the Rolling Stones have nothing on Amma, the Indian mahatma ("spiritual guide") chronicled in Jan Kounen's handsomely photographed but one-sided documentary.
- 50San Francisco ChronicleJohn McMurtrieSan Francisco ChronicleJohn McMurtrieA loving if fawning documentary.
- 50Boston GlobeWesley MorrisBoston GlobeWesley MorrisAccording to several sojourners who speak in the film, Amma is the embodiment of love. And according to her website, it's her religion, too.
- 50L.A. WeeklyL.A. WeeklyUnless you're already a true believer, Amma comes across in Darshan as a perfect angel, a frustrating enigma and a rather dull cinematic subject.
- 50Los Angeles TimesJohn AndersonLos Angeles TimesJohn AndersonWhile Amma's teachings of love, inner peace and Karma, or action, resonate in the film -- obviously, Amma is a woman called to God -- her background remains pretty much a mystery. Less National Geographic and more personal history would have added a dimension to "Darshan."
- 40Village VoiceBen KenigsbergVillage VoiceBen KenigsbergWerner Herzog's "Wheel of Time" was, in a sense, the Buddhist equivalent of this film, as well as a more illuminating look at the power and transience of ritual.