SPRING, SUMMER, FALL, WINTER… AND SPRING

South Korea | 2003 | 105 min | M18: Mature Theme

Korean with English subtitles

Directed by Kim Ki-duk

A young Buddhist apprentice is mentored by an aging monk at a secluded monastery in the Korean wilderness. As a teenager, the apprentice encounters a girl who arrives at the monastery seeking assistance with her health. Over the course of a few days, the boy is tempted away from his spiritual existence into a sexual relationship. He leaves the monastery to follow the girl into a modern way of life he has never known and is unprepared for.

This lyrical film, depicting the passing seasons of the year and of human life, presents a fascinating change in director Kim Ki-duk´s controversial methods, though without sacrificing his artistic identity or characteristic themes. The filmmaker himself plays the adult monk.

DIRECTOR’S BIO

Kim Ki-duk (1960-2020) was a South Korean film director and screenwriter, noted for his idiosyncratic art-house cinematic works. His films have received many distinctions in the festival circuit, rendering him one of the most important contemporary Asian film directors.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

I intend to portray the joy, anger, sorrow and pleasure of our lives through four seasons and through the life of a monk who lives in a temple surrounded only by nature on Jusan Pond. In my other films there has been a lot of brutality and cruelty and anger inside them. But with SPRING, SUMMER… I also wanted to show the healing powers of forgiveness and tolerance.

PRINT SOURCE

SeongHyun PARK
Finecut Co., Ltd.
shyun@finecut.co.kr