You can't help but feel that director Astra Taylor fails at her own challenge of making an academic subject come truly alive as cinema.
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Examined Life
Overview
Examined Life pulls philosophy out of academic journals and classrooms, and puts it back on the streets. Offering privileged moments with great thinkers from fields ranging from moral philosophy to cultural theory, Examined Life reveals philosophy's power to transform the way we see the world around us and imagine our place in it.
Director and cast
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
Taylor's stimulating film, enlivened by creative location shooting, will surely find an appreciative audience among highbrow cinephiles.
Director-writer Astra Taylor wisely avoids turning this talk fest into a talking heads fest by filming these effusive intellectuals in a variety of visually diverting, real-world environments.
There's plenty of food for thought here, though the movie is more a buffet than a meal.
To [director Astra] Taylor's credit it's as inviting and accessible as a smart conversation with fascinating friends.
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