Bom yeoreum gaeul gyeoul geurigo bom (2003): *** out of ****
Written and directed by Kim Ki-duk. Starring Oh Yeong-su, Kim Ki-duk and Ha
Yeo-jin.
by Andy Keast
"Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter…and Spring" tiptoes through the life -from
childhood to late adulthood- of a Buddhist monk, each titular season
representative of a certain moment in that life -a blip on his timeline. The
monk is played by four different actors: as a small child, a young adult, a
middle-aged man and one of old age. With each 'season' the monk arrives at
various turning points, some with difficult lessons. By the end, a cycle of
sorts has been completed and we arrive at a religious story about the wisdom
that is acquired only through age.
The entire film takes place on a floating monastery, where as a small kid, the
monk is early to rise every morning by order of his master (Oh Yeong-su),
kneeling before a terracotta Buddha. The old monk is of course a staple of
films of this kind: the impossibly wise and omniscient priest -but it's never
overplayed. The 'spring' segment gives us what could be construed as abuse in
another setting, though here the lesson is clear, literal and simplified. With
the 'summer,' the monk's first feelings of lust awaken when a young female (Ha
Yeo-jin) visits the monastery. The segment is sexually frank, with many scenes
of the teenaged monk careful to keep his secrets secret, though the old monk is
sharp, and remains cognizant to what's happening.
The screenplay is unique in that we receive not one but four perspectives on
the seasonal lessons (all different and the man himself different while at each
one), though consequently, no one of the four actors playing the monk is
onscreen long enough for us to identify with him. I don't think this is the
film's purpose anyway; its story and characters serve more as vessels for its
themes, which we're meant to discover piecemeal. The monk's journey is
plentiful with Buddhist imagery and panoramas, which don't merely serve as
window-dressing for American culture-vultures visiting the theater but function
as a leg of the film's simplicity.
"Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter…and Spring" was made by Korea's versatile Kim
Ki-duk, director of a particularly disturbing film called "The Isle," about an
emotionally distraught woman who explores various dimensions of physical pain
through the manipulation of fish hooks. Unpleasant, though with that film he
is able to pull an audience through the proverbial emotional wringer. Here he
tones way down, keeps the atmosphere docile and stoic, condensing a lifespan
into a Buddhist fable.
au3480@wayne.edu
arthistoryguy@aol.com
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