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181 out of 229 people found the following review useful: I was left speechless by this movie, 18 February 2005 Author: alexander-lewis from United States
This film left me speechless, and I still have a hard time putting how I feel about this movie into words. After seeing it the first time in the theater, my friend and I couldn't bring ourselves to say a word to each other...not even in the car on the ride back. The second time I saw it, after purchasing it, another friend and I walked around the campus for half an hour in silence. The third time, a friend and I sat in silence in her room for an hour after the movie was over. This film is that profound, touching, and moving.Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...Spring is the most beautiful movie I have ever seen. Visually it is fantastic, though several films surpass it in this aspect. However, the film manages to speak directly to the soul (or...failing to believe in the soul...something deep inside anyone watching it), and this is where it's beauty lies. Parts are so affecting that a painful nostalgia for a place you never knew overwhelms you.I am sorry I cannot be more helpful...the quality that makes this movie so wonderful is well beyond words for me.
126 out of 137 people found the following review useful: Perfect Simplicity, 17 November 2004 Author: grahamers from Maryland, USA
Perfect SimplicityMy review of this film should end with those two words. However, the 10 line minimum requirement that IMDb requires of all reviews belies the differences between my world and the world shown to me in Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter…and Spring. I understand why IMDb does not want 1000's of (apparently) useless two-word reviews in their database. However, I would hope that they could make an exception for this film.Perfect: The film is as close to perfect as a film could get. No shot is presented to us, nor a line of dialog uttered that does not make us ponder and understand at the same time. The film is also beautiful. (Like the previous reviewer, I am a fan of Asian cinema and never tire of the stunning ability of Asian directors to capture beauty on film.) This film exceeds most other Asian films I have seen in the cinematography regard. However, its beauty is surprisingly deceptive. Like most great films, it surpasses the 'cinematography' level of beauty and delves into the beauty of existence through its story. For example, the Old Monk has a different pet during each 'season' of his life. This is not discussed by the characters nor shoved in our face by the director – as would have been done if Hollywood had done this film. It is merely background we experience and come to understand. Two days after viewing the film, I am still finding new reflections in my mind that encompass the cinematography, the literal story and the underlying context of the film.Simplicity: This film approaches a level of cinematic Haiku. While I don't recall the entire dialog with any specificity, I am sure you could print the script on one page of paper. The amazing part is that while you are watching the film, you don't notice this. Every shot moves the story along. The simplicity of life as shown by the story is reflected in the simplicity of the film. After the film ended, I had a strong urge to move away from civilization and live – or die – in peace with nature. I enjoy (and have come to be too dependent upon) modern inventions, so I will stay at home. However, this film will remain in my heart. It does exactly what good story-telling is supposed to do: Take us completely out of our world and put us in another. There is no wonder that this film was selected for so many film festivals.
84 out of 94 people found the following review useful: When she finds peace in her soul, her body will return to health., 13 September 2004 Author: Andy (film-critic) from Bookseller of the Blue Ridge
The circle of life is everlasting. We, as busy humans, sometimes miss the opportunity to see it in full effect. The modern day conveniences of life and the hustle and bustle of work sometimes fog our eyes to the constantly moving world. Thankfully we have films like Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter … and Spring, to help guide us back to our roots. Through each season, director Ki-duk Kim shows us the journey of one young boy as he learns life through the hands and mind of an older monk. Through events that are beyond his control, this young boy learns about love, lust, jealousy, hatred, and eventually rage. He makes choices that ultimately effect his life causing turmoil and distress, yet somehow continually finds his way back to the floating house on the lake where his journey began. It is during his final visit home he learns of his final journey in life. As a new soul is handed to him, he embarks on a final journey using his master's lesson, to pay homage to the life he has lead. When I watched this film the first story that came to mind was that told by Trina Paulus in 'Hope for the Flowers'. It is the story of two caterpillars that embark on a journey into butterflies. Along the way they experience a full range of emotions that are attached to life and death. In the end, they become two of the most beautiful creatures in the world. This is how I viewed this entire film. I felt as if I was watching a young caterpillar (the young boy) experience life and journey along the path to become the beautiful butterfly. The beauty of the scenes and the simplicity of this story not drenched in words only kept this image vibrant. The spiritual themes of this film are present, but not bold. They are not hitting you in the face and forcing you to understand, but instead showing you and demonstrating the power of those willing to believe. This is a quiet film that leaves much up to our imagination. We never leave the valley that surrounds the lake, we never know what year is currently going on outside of the forest, and we are meant to understand that this story could take place anytime. Kim gives us themes that can be used to express any period of time and is especially poignant in today's terror filled world.I loved everything about this film. From the simplicity of the opening doors to introduce each scene to the stunning and hypnotic ending that makes you believe in the human spirit. If you walk away with anything from this film, I hope it is hope. Hope for everything on this planet, and especially a hope for our fellow man. Mistakes are made to learn by. Take these errors and accept them to move closer to the world you have always dreamed about. Be that young boy that is able to transform into the man he desires.See this movie, and feel a warmth like no other. This is quite possibly one of the best films of the year. Amazing!Grade: **** out of ****
79 out of 89 people found the following review useful: A Korean Buddhist allegory; a religious experience, 30 June 2004 Author: Bob Pr. from Topeka, KS
American title: "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...& Spring"This beautiful film is one to see more than once -- either in the theater (or in your mind's eye). I found the discussion group on this film (here at IMDb) very helpful in illuminating the symbolism which I partially grasped and in decoding some Buddhist principles. See, e.g., this thread: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0374546/board/nest/8123660The setting and the photography that captures it is strikingly beautiful and satisfying. The issues are so universally human that the Buddhist flavor provides an accent and not a barrier.The story recounts the growth of a child into his adulthood and his eventual reclaiming of his roots and meaning. While the film deals with other Buddhist principles and symbolic elements, a central part of it reminds me of lines from T.S. Eliot's "Four Quartets" which reads (loosely remembered) '...and the aim of all our wandering is to arrive again at the place from which we started and know it for the first time...'As one sees one cycle end and another begin, it made me wonder about how the old monk first got there and what his life was like.Symbolic. Complex. Elegantly simple. Beautiful. Evocative. Haunting. Provocative. Gently touching the universal religious and the profound.
53 out of 57 people found the following review useful: This is not only a Buddhist idea but one of the facts of life., 16 June 2004 Author: Musashi Zatoichi (info@dvdstockholm.com) from Stockholm
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
In "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter ... and Spring," Kim Ki-duk, a South Korean director whose past films were often fueled by violence, does a complete about-face. This film is a pastoral poem about the changing seasons and a meditation on the cycle of life. In a tranquil and timeless setting of a temple floating atop a man-made lake in a forest, surrounded by mountain spires that cut the monastery off from worldly concerns, an old monk teaches his young disciple the wisdom of Buddha over the many seasons of their lives.But don't let the movie's mysticism fool you: This South Korean/German production has created festival buzz here. Sony Pictures Classics snapped up the picture in the second week. As it is chosen to be South Korea's entry into the foreign-language film Oscar competition, "Spring" should become an art house hit in North America. Set against the background of this floating monastery, the picture's only set, the film follows the lives of a child monk and his master through four different seasons of their lives. Kim infuses these episodes with Buddhist principles, which teach kindness toward all forms of life and the goal of inner peace. Yet the world does intrude into the serene hermitage, bringing with it life's pleasures and sufferings. Under the watchful gaze of an old monk (Oh Young-su), a little boy (Seo Jae-kyung) learns what sorrows his own cruelty can cause. As a teen, the boy (Kim Young-min) experiences the power of love and of lust when a young woman (Ha Yeo-jin) enters his life. Turning his back on the hermitage, he joins the world of man only to return years later, in anger and terror, when his desperate need for possession has turned to murder. Before police can arrest him, his master sees that penitence has cleared his heart and soul of all hatred. In winter, the old monk makes his funeral pyre. Then his disciple, now a mature man (played by the director himself), returns to the sanctuary of his youth. He seeks peace and quiet so he might fulfill his destiny. When a woman brings a male baby to the temple, the monk undertakes a journey of atonement to place a holy statue on a frozen mountaintop. Now he is ready to raise and instruct a new monk. Much of the movie is steeped in Buddhist mysticism. Each of the five episodes features a different animal -- a dog, a rooster, a cat, a snake and finally a turtle. For each season, Kim Ki-duk observes the change of weather and the relationship of man with nature. The film emphasizes the power of meditation and, in the episode concerning the murderer who seeks enlightenment, the need to perform a sutra to cleanse the heart of all jealousy and anger. Kim Ki-duk keeps dialogue to a minimum and actions simple in what is virtually a two-character piece. Humor arrives organically, often resulting in hearty laughs. Backed by a terrific South Korean/German production crew, Kim Ki-duk is in total control of his material, its rhythms and its tone.Spring - Child Monk takes life of animals out of innocenceA child monk ties a stone to a back of fish. Same plight awaits a frog and a snake. The child monk roams the brook in search of the fish and the frog as his punishment allotted by the old monk. Summer - Boy Monk in love learns obsession The monk is now 17 years old. To the lonely hermitage, a girl comes to convalesce. Before long, warm feelings towards the girl sprouts in the boy's heart. Their ripple in the water turns into an act of love.Fall - Young Monk in agony of malice The boy returns to the hermitage in the mountains as a young man in his thirties after committing a murder. The old monk whips him finding the young man attempting suicide in front of the statue of Buddha. Old monk order him to etch the Pranja-parpamitasutra, meanwhile he finds peace in his heart.Winter - Mature Monk in days of enlightenment The monk, now in his full maturity retraces his steps to the abandoned hermitage in the mountains. A woman wearing a veil visits the hermitage with a baby. She leaves her baby behind and runs away. And then spring - Another child monk : cycle of four seasons The old monk living with another child monk is having a peaceful time in the hermitage...the circle of life keeps on. Kim Gi-deok(b) has been known for making films that are involving but often difficult to watch. In his eight previous works, which include ''Som (The Isle),' ''Nappun Namja (Bad Guy)' and most recently ''Haeanson (The Coast Guard),' Kim has taken on such controversial and agonizing topics as the life of a prostitute, the love-hate relationship of a woman and a pimp who kidnaps her, and a soldier slowly going insane. For his new film ''Bom Yorum Kaul Kyoul Kurigo Bom (Spring Summer Fall Winter... and Spring),' Kim says he tried to change the pace and outlook of his films and show a different side of himself. ''I feel like I've been living my life in a rush, so I wanted to slow down a little and make a movie like this,' Kim said after a press screening.The film traces the life of a Buddhist monk as he goes from being a young orphan to an adult monk. Kim uses the passing of the seasons to parallel the monk's development and his experiences of desire, jealousy and rage.With a small cast, all of ''Spring' takes place in and around a temple on Chusanji Lake located in Mt. Chuwang National Park, North Kyongsang Province. A 30-ton set built specifically for the film, the temple floats like a wayward raft on the lake, accessible only by a small boat.With the construction of the temple and the logistics of filming on water, Kim says there were a lot of people behind the film that made it possible. ''They made something that it seemed could not be done work,' he says.The floating temple was used to show ''the speed in which life can change, the way that one can wake up and find that East has become West and West has become East, that irony of life,' Kim said. ''Spring' also shows Kim making his debut as an actor. Kim portrays the older monk in the film's winter scenes, a role he originally conceived for the veteran actor Ahn Sung-ki or renowned scholar and philosopher Kim Yong-OK. Both were unavailable due to schedule conflicts.After deciding to take on the part himself, Kim made the already physically demanding role, which included meditating in freezing temperatures, even more so. In one scene Kim climbs up a steep mountain with a large stone tied to his waist while carrying a stone statue of a Buddha with both arms, something he admits he wouldn't have asked another actor to do.A devout Catholic _ Kim at one point in his life seriously considered priesthood _ the director says the film in part was driven by his relationship between his own religious values and the culture around him.''All Koreans have lived surrounded by Buddhism and Buddhist culture is the foundation, which we acknowledge and accept,' he says.And though the changing of the seasons in the film is to show the life of one monk, Kim says it reflects the cycle of life in general.''If we were able to remember life's lesson from spring we wouldn't repeat them,' Kim says, ''but like winter which rots away the leaves and freezes over everything, like the seasons' patterns, our patterns in life will make us forget and repeat our past mistakes. ''This is not only a Buddhist idea but one of the facts of life.'
43 out of 51 people found the following review useful: not only cinema, but art, 25 June 2005 Author: dromasca from Herzlya, Israel
This film is a good example why cinema is called an art - this is not just another movie, but a real piece of art. The pleasure of seeing it belongs to the aesthetics, and it transcends beyond the action and beyond what only happens on screen, or what the characters say and do.It is both a simple and complex story - the story of a life, catching all seasons of development of man: innocence of childhood - so quickly lost unfortunately, mistakes of the young age, tragedies of maturity , and wisdom coming with the old age.The film is filmed at one location of a cut-breathing beauty. Beauty of nature is being maximized by the art of the camera. The soundtrack has little dialog, but the expressiveness of the actors makes the dialog useless. You feel the drama, you do not need to hear the words, and the music says more than words.There are a lot of symbols in this movie, and I probably lost most of them because they belong to the Budhist culture. There are however many other symbols that speak to the European spectator - the cycles of life, the rhythms of nature, the magic figure 4, like the number of seasons of the year, or like the number of parts in classic symphony, the unity of space as in Greek tragedy, and time - one life instead of one day, all give to this creation a wonderful symmetry and equilibrium.Worth seeing, this is a film that will make the delight of anybody who believes like I do that cinema is an art.
36 out of 40 people found the following review useful: understated beautiful contemplative, 20 August 2004 Author: imdb-4311 (imdb@unclekellan.com) from London, UK
a film of about the cycles of life, about solitude and love, innocence, corruption and redemption. stunning cinematography. lots of allusions and metaphors, as you might expect from Korean cinema. contemplative.the story appears to centre on the life of buddhist monks living on a floating house, but as the film progresses, one sees that this is a film about the constancy within change and renewal. The female characters are not the most positive roles, representing corruption and temptation, tho also providing the means for renewal.There are some memorable scenes not least the house in winter and the knife writing scene, this is not for those seeking martial arts action,personally i found it slipped into one of favourite films list.
40 out of 48 people found the following review useful: A Masterpiece of Colours and Peace..., 24 January 2005 Author: Khashayar Mortazavi from , Toronto, Canada
The film can be described as a simple Buddhist fable: simple but multi layers. All the elements play their own symbolic roles; the snake, the fish, the cat and the frog (all living creatures). The issue of reincarnation is central. The film narrates a personal journey from unawareness and childhood to awakening and maturity. Through the seasons, we are witnessing the flowing nature of life in its pure manifestation: birth,pain,love,despair,death and rebirth. The dialog are concise.They are short but quite sufficient (Buddhism wisdom does not require a lot of words). The brilliant photography adds the beauty. Casts are in deep connection with the context. I'm interested to know Kim is a director or a monk itself?
35 out of 41 people found the following review useful: A Visual Delight, 18 September 2004 Author: artzau from Sacramento, CA
I'm constantly amazed by the appearance of some seemingly off-the-wall piece of art that when you view it evokes a stunning effect. The simplicity of this film, its low-key action and pace, its visual surrealistic beauty, all interact to create an emotional impression that is long-lasting and thought-provoking. Korea has been somewhat slower to enter the international cinematic world and here is a film with actors whose names stir little or no recognition. For myself, who has enjoyed the Korean films I've seen before, it was a delightful surprise. The film itself is a wonderful tapestry of Korean Buddhist culture, with quiet visual beauty, simple moral themes and human passions put into a simple, homespun perspective. The remarkable natural setting which reflects the wide spectrum of Korea's seasons, which range from hot, sticky humid-fraught summers to icy, cold snow-bound winters, become a metaphor of life with unadorned figures, completely human in form. The old monk becomes a witness to the interplay of human qualities, without judgment yet with a complete and quiet moral presence. The foibles of child cruelty is met with a simple retribution which imparts a lasting lesson. Judgment is always withheld and warnings are given simply. The effect of all of this rings long and lasting, much like the impression of a delicate Korean silk print: simple in design with plain brush strokes and stylized representations of nature-- yet, lasting in impression, often to the point of being unforgettable. I buy few videos and DVDs, preferring to see things I really enjoyed again and again. But, I've ordered this one.
44 out of 66 people found the following review useful: A gentler addition to Kim's compendium of sexual obsession, 7 January 2005 Author: j30bell (j30bell@yahoo.co.uk) from London, England
Spring, Summer, Winter, Autumn …and Spring is something of a self conscious art-house film. Possibly Kim Ki-duk is trying to work off his reputation for making movies replete with violent sexual imagery, but he's not fooling anyone. Spring… contains – admittedly in a much more restrained form – most of the themes from his earlier works, The Isle and Bad Guy. Onto this, however, is pasted a hefty dose of Buddhist teaching. Or, from another perspective, an interesting juxtaposition of old and new.Beginning in the Spring of an undefined year close to the present, the film is set on (and I mean, on) an isolated lake. A child acolyte lives out a life of quiet contemplation, punctuated by occasional acts of petty animal cruelty. His master, a monk, observes his young charge with increasing disapproval and orders him to undo his evil or face the consequences in his own life. It soon becomes apparent that he means this in anything but the figurative sense.Moving through the seasons, Kim explores the "cycle of life"; with his acolyte experiencing youthful love (or lust), anger, violence and finally acceptance, contrition and peace. The film ends with a new acolyte and a new cycle: implying an endless repetition with subtle variation.Spring… is not exactly a subtle film, but it is beautifully done. Kim uses silence like few other filmmakers, matching Kurosawa or Bergman at their best. He punctuates these long slow movements with abrupt changes in tempo – such as the arrival of Yeo. The pace quickens and the mood changes. The courtship of the adolescent boy and girl are some of the gentlest scenes in cinema (though culminating in a suitably Kim-like, energetic coupling).With popular Buddhist and Confucian ideas now so firmly established in cinema (thanks in part to their bastardisation by George Lucas), the ideas in this film aren't exactly going to leave its audience in need of a large glass of perspective and soda (to quote Douglas Adams). Lust leads to possessive urges, which lead to violence; ones violent actions lead on to violence against oneself; peace (and redemption) is found not through approbation, but understanding oneself.I can't quite dispel the notion that The Isle, with its sly humour and darker plot is a better film, or that Spring… is, if not completely then at least partially, up the bottom of its own artiness. That said, it is a very, very pretty film. Its story is intelligent, if not awe-inspiring, and it is a delightful change of pace from most modern cinema. Most of all, it is probably one of Kim's most accessible films, and I shall certainly be watching it again – if only to see Oh Yeong-su practising his calligraphic art with the tail of a live cat. 7/10.
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