Working miracles with only a single set and a handful of characters, Korean director Kim Ki-Duk creates a wise little gem of a movie. As the title suggests, the action takes place in five distinct episodes, but sometimes many years separate the seasons. The setting is a floating monastery in a pristine mountain lake, where an elderly monk teaches a boy the lessons of life--although when the boy grows to manhood, he inevitably must learn a few hard lessons for himself. By the time the story reaches its final sections, you realize you have witnessed the arc of existence--not... one person's life, but everyone's. It's as enchanting as a Buddhist fable, but it's not precious; Kim (maker of the notorious The Isle) consistently surprises you with a sex scene or an explosion of black comedy; he also vividly acts in the Winter segment, when the lake around the monastery eerily freezes. --Robert Horton [show more]
Kim Ki Duk is a very popular Korean director with some different genres of movie under his belt since he started about 7 years ago, a couple of horror-ish movies included. This one is 180 degrees away from that. Ostensibly, it is the story of a monastery and the cycle of birth, aging, death, and rebirth, but really it is about learning. It is filmed in a beautiful location on a floating monastery in the middle of a lake surrounded by gorgeous mountains. The old master of the monastery attempts to train his young ward to take over for him when he is gone, but things change and what the audience expects is not what occurs at all. The old monk does not fret however because part of his philoposhy is to live in the present so there are no plans to ruin. Many mistakes and repentances later we see the young ward grown and matured to become the old master and the cycle begins anew. The symbolism in this movie is pretty blatant, but it works very well. None of his characters are named, creating a sense of universality, and an unusual tool not unlike the one he used in his most recent film 3 Iron where the lead characters never speak until the last part of the film where one of them speaks a single line. Kim Ki Duk is an artist, and not one appreciated by all, but I like him. If you are in the mood for something that just might move you, check this out. The Tartan Video edition of this film is the one to have in the English speaking world, it features the international cut of the film, along with behind the scenes footage and extras all subtitled in English, it is interesting to watch the artists at work. The only downside is that in Korea the film was shown with an additional 3 minutes at the end which was not shown anywhere else in the world, I have seen that Korean cut, and the final 3 minutes does emphasize the theme of the film, but there are no earth shattering revelations. I highly recommend this release for those in the mood for something mellow but powerful.
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Meditative coming-of-age drama by Korean director Kim Ki-duk. The film, which is divided into five sections to reperesent the stages of a man's life, is set entirely on and around a remote mountain lake where a tiny Buddhist monastery floats on a raft amidst the breathtakingly beautiful landscape. Here an old Buddhist monk (Oh Young-Su) instructs his young child apprentice (Kim Jong-Ho) in Buddhist philosophy and shows him how to live in harmony with nature. But as the boy grows older, he becomes consumed by guilt, jealousy and sexual longing, and leaves the monastery to pursue his worldy desires. However, he eventually returns, exhausted and drained by his experiences, and (now played by the director, Kim Ki-duk) slowly matures and rebuilds himself to become a teacher himself. The film won the Audience Award at the 2003 San Sebastian film festival, among numerous other international awards.
Prayer, meditation, and appreciation of nature are the sacraments by which two monks live a simple life in Korean director Kim Ki-Duk's SPRING, SUMMER, FALL, WINTER... AND SPRING. A wise old monk (Oh Young-soo) is master to a young student, and remains so throughout the changing seasons of the younger monk's life. In springtime the young monk is a 5-year-old boy, in summer he is a teenager, in fall he is a 30-year-old man, and in winter he is in mid-life. The master and his student live in a tranquil house that floats in the middle of a pond hidden in a vast woodland. Paddling their row boat to the edge of the pond, they roam the forest collecting herbs for medicine, observing animals, and learning deep lessons about life. When a woman brings her sick daughter to the monks to be healed, a lustful relationship results between the daughter and the teenage monk. Though sex is the appropriate cure for the girl, the affair is a harbinger of evil for the monk, whose innocence is replaced by corruption. After paying for his sins over the course of many years, the monk finds inner peace and is reborn.A spiritual soundtrack and superb nature photography make this film a joy to watch, and its story is rich with messages about forgiveness and inner peace.
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