Darshan: The Embrace

Jan Kounen’s ethereal mood piece casts a reverential gaze on the extraordinary life of an Indian spiritual guide and humanitarian known simply as Amma. Now in her early fifties, Amma has given her embrace (“darshan”) to more than 26 million people around the world, in addition to ministering to their material needs through disaster relief and other charitable efforts. Darshan essentially follows Amma on a tour of India: The fluid Steadicam work, dreamy dissolves and nearly wall-to-wall music are hypnotic for about a half hour, but the self-consciously mystical mood eventually grows monotonous. (Now playing; IFC Center.) — Joshua Land