Review of Little Buddha (1993) by Jack G — 18 May 2012
This was one of the real notorious "Harvey Weinstein fucked with my original version" movies from Miramax back in the day. Apparently Bertolucci hates Weinstein because of it. Then again, how great can a movie be with Keanu Reeves as a Siddhartha?
Well... it's not great (that was my previous review of what I thought of the movie waaay back in the day). But it's MUCH better than I expected, and is very good *despite* what Weinstein did to the cut, which does appear from seeing the film to have been cut by a good few minutes - maybe for the better, I don't know. All I know is Reeves, who shouldn't have any place in this film, gives an astonishingly good performance all things considered, and Bertolucci and writer Rudy Wurlitzer (of Two-Lane Blacktop!) are very thoughtful about the nature of Buddhism and what the Siddhartha means today. And of course Vittorio Storaro is the man, and this along with Bulworth is one of his late masterpieces of camera-work.
Not one of Bertolucci's best, of course, and the kids can be a bit mawkish and eh. But for what it is, I was absorbed.
This review of Little Buddha (1993) was written by Jack G on 18 May 2012.
Little Buddha has generally received positive reviews.
Was this review helpful?
