Bom yeoreum gaeul gyeoul geurigo bom (2003)

User Rating:

8.1/10   

Director:

Ki-duk Kim

Writer:

Ki-duk Kim (writer)

Release Date:

19 September 2003 (South Korea)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

This film takes place in an isolated lake, where an old monk lives on a small floating temple. The wise master has also a young boy with him that teaches to become a monk. And we watch as seasons and years pass by.

Plot Keywords:

Lust | Monk | Catharsis | Seasons | Broken Heart

Awards:

11 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Yeong-su Oh	...	Old Monk (as Young-soo Oh)
Ki-duk Kim	...	Adult Monk
Young-min Kim	...	Young Adult Monk
Jae-kyeong Seo	...	Boy Monk
Yeo-jin Ha	...	The Girl
Jong-ho Kim	...	Child Monk
Jung-young Kim	...	The Girl's Mother
Dae-han Ji	...	Detective Ji
Min Choi	...	Detective Choi
Ji-a Park	...	The Baby's Mother
Min-Young Song	...	The Baby

Also Known As:

Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter... and Spring (Australia) (UK)
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (International: English title) (USA)
Frühling, Sommer, Herbst, Winter... und Frühling (Germany)

MPAA:

Rated R for some strong sexuality.

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

South Korea | Germany

Language:

Korean

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Hungary:16 | Japan:R-15 | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Canada:14A | Czech Republic:15 | Finland:K-11 (re-rating) | Finland:K-15 (original rating) | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIB | Italy:T | Mexico:B15 | Netherlands:MG6 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:M18 | South Korea:15 | Sweden:7 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:12 (canton of the Grisons) | UK:15 | USA:R | Chile:14

Company:

Korea Pictures

Trivia:

The inscription on the floor is "The Heart Sutra", one of the most important Sutra of Mahayana Buddhism, written in literary Chinese.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: After the cops take the young adult monk away and the old monk is standing on the monastery watching, a fine monofilament can be seen pulling the boat, which is ostensibly floating on the current, back to the monastery.

Quotes:

Old Monk: Lust awakens the desire to possess. And that awakens the intent to murder.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Holiday (2006)

A gentler addition to Kim's compendium of sexual obsession

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.