Directed by Doris Dörrie
Doris Dörrie is Germany’s most popular contemporary movie director. Her movie Enlightenment Guaranteed belongs among my favorite movies. I consider it interesting on three levels: it is a very funny comedy, has beautiful scenery of the Japanese countryside, and has a philosophical undertone. The plot starts simply. Two brothers find themselves on an airplane bound for Japan, one of them with an idea of vacationing in a Buddhist monastery, while the second brother got on the airplane by mistake. The story takes many twists and turns before the brothers finally reach the monastery, while encountering many hilarious moments of trying to cope with a foreign county and language. Once they make it to monastery, each of them encounters unexpected “enlightenment”. Doris Dörrie finds much inspiration in the tenets of Zen Buddhism, as many of her movies take place in Japan. She is also well-known as a writer of short stories and novels. Her latest movie, Cherry Blossoms (2009), is also available at our library, and is also outstanding.