Zen

There is something completely and blatantly wrong-headed about this film. That's the case with many religious films (and way more non-religious films than you'd ever think).

The whole story is about a chatty, bubbly monk who tries to get buddhism but constantly gets trolled by older monks who do anything but telling him what actual buddhism is supposed to look like.

Then a prostitute appears and is the new main character all of a sudden. She is nasty and petulant but also self-pitying and whiny and - more than anything - a woman, so she is the perfect victim and mc you'd emphasize with (for whatever reason).

The problem is not so much the conventional, boring cinematography or the below-average acting but the story and characterization in particular.

For some reason the female mc has to be a prostitute at all cost and her mistakes aren't reflected in the slightest. She's literally buying herself out of her "sin" with dirty money.

The films stance on prostitutes is genuinely patronizing and at the same time it falls into every possible cliche about the "holy prostitute" and generally seems to think of women as either holy or full of sin/dirty.

I strongly doubt that so called buddhists around the globe approve the films depiction of buddhism and I also doubt the directors/screenwriters credibility about depicting buddhism.