Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring
by Ki-duk Kim
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Jae-kyeong Seo, Jong-ho Kim, Ki-duk Kim, Yeong-su Oh, Young-min KimDirector: Ki-duk Kim
Brand: Sony
Writer: Ki-duk Kim
Cinematographer: Dong-hyeon Baek
Producer: Dong-joo Kim
Producer: Karl Baumgartner
Producer: Raimond Goebel
Producer: Seung-jae Lee
Producer: So-hee Kim
Producer: Soma Chung
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Korean (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 1.85:1
Running Time: 103 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-09-07
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Movie Reviews of Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring
Movie Review: Allegorically Introspective and Cyclically Brilliant Cinema
Summary: 5 Stars
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring ushers the audience into silent solitude through meticulously planned cinematography that maximizes the effect of the natural environment. The environment is essential to the story as it takes place in an idyllic valley that is untouched by the continually modernizing civilization. In the middle of the valley is a small lake in which a small floating monastery drifts by the forces of the nature. This has an allegorical meaning as it supports the notion that everything is part of a greater plan in which individuals can make small ripples that will affect the individual throughout life.
Each frame is carefully planned as color, form, and movement come together into a meaningful expression of either spiritual, moral, existential meaning, or a personal meaning which rests behind the eye of the beholder. The film becomes a sequential succession of spiritual or existential paintings that are rapidly exchanged before the viewers' retina. The mise-en-scene is exceptionally significant as Ki-duk Kim has left nothing to chance, yet everything is based on chance. This visual oxymoron is very much like the chaotic expression which nature expresses itself within each season.
The story is split into the four seasons as it begins and ends with spring as the title suggests. The beginning takes place in the spring as an old monk cares for a young boy who discovers the consequence of guilt the hard way as he torments a fish, a frog, and a snake. The shots have symbolic meaning, yet the many frames offer much room for personal interpretation as the boy deals with everyday life under the supervision of the monk.
Summer opens the door to love, affection, and desire as the young boy has become a young man. This begins with the old monk who receives a young woman that is sick. The mother of the young woman requests that the monk help to cure her daughter that seems to suffer from some sort of restless melancholic ailment. The young woman and the young man playfully begin a romantic relationship that leads them into a physical relationship. This relationship drives the young man to give up a life in the small monastery as he sneaks away an early morning.
Fall is the season when the woods change from green to an explosion of color. Ki-duk Kim use this natural phenomenon of the seasons to a full effect as the season displays the aftermath of a vengeful strikeout from the young man who now is a man in his 30s. The man now has to learn the consequences of his actions through a painful internal crisis, in which he seeks moral and spiritual redemption by returning to the tranquility of the valley.
Winter follows fall and the man is now in his 40s, as he once again returns to the monastery in order to take over for the former monk. It becomes a time for spiritual search and moral purging for the man who tries to fill the shoes of his former teacher and guide. This means that he must find a way to deal with his past, present, and future by rigorously following a rough and narrow path.
When spring returns the film brings the audience in a full circle as it returns to where the film once started. The cyclical message is a fundamental cornerstone of Buddhism and the message that the film portrays. However, it does not mean that things will be the same in the future as each ripple created will cause some change in the environment, which is skillfully depicted through the use of the animals that Ki-duk Kim incorporates into each season. In the initial spring there is a dog and as summer comes along it brings a rooster while a cat enters with the fall. A snake appears in the winter as and as the spring returns it brings the audience a turtle. These animals also represent the end of men's lives as they could be reincarnations of other human's, which is a result of the ripples they once created.
Summary of Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring
SPRING, SUMMER, FALL, WINTER AND SPRI - DVD MovieWorking 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
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