Little Buddha

Little Buddha (1993) is Bernardo Bertolucci's drama, ready to watch online on iFILM. When Lama Dorje dies, Tibetan monks travel the world searching for the child who carries his rebirth — and knock on the door of an ordinary Seattle family.

Their search settles on young Jesse Conrad. As the monk Norbu spends time with the boy, he tells him an ancient story: Prince Siddhartha walking away from a palace, wealth and certain power to face suffering and death head-on and become the Buddha. The film braids the two threads together — present-day Seattle and ancient India — until the search carries three candidate children to Bhutan for a test of who truly holds the old teacher's soul. Keanu Reeves plays Siddhartha, with Chris Isaak and Bridget Fonda as the boy's parents.

Shot by cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, the past glows in warm gold while the present sits in cool blue, and that split does more work than any line of dialogue. At 141 unhurried, almost meditative minutes, it asks you to slow down with it. Stream Little Buddha (1993) online on iFILM.