Movie: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring
Year: 2003
Director: Kim Ki-duk
Language: Korean
Synopsis:The movie begins in a small lake inside a forest that has a floating monastery. The monk and his young apprentice spend time going into the forest and collecting herbs and praying. The young monk one day finds it amusing to tie rocks to a fish, a frog and a snake. The teacher seeing this ties a rock to the apprentice and tells him that he shall free him from the torment only after he frees the other animals. He also tells him that if any one of them is dead he will carry the stone in his heart for the rest of his life. Years later there is a young lady who comes to the monastery to cure herself of a strange disease. The young monk slowly explores the feelings of love and experiments with his feelings. As events unfold his life is told in seasons which are set many years apart. The story moves from his running away from the monastery to finally coming back years later and then finally taking over as the caretaker of the monastery with a new apprentice.
My own take: If I had to put a genre to this movie I would be really in a fix. So lets just call it a really thought provoking movie. The beauty of the movie is in the small one liners which will sum up the seasons like the crux of the matter. And that is what makes you think again and again about the movie. These pearls of wisdom actually make the movie so rich in parts that you tend to forgive the guy who was writing the subtitles for missing out couple of lines . As I saw in the other movies by Kim Ki-duk, the dialogues are minimal and scenes are breath taking. There is a lot said without words and a lot left to imagination. The strength of the movie also comes from the fact that a lot is left unsaid like the woman who drops her baby never takes off her veil. Or the master’s spirit which comes to guard the monastery as a snake. At times even the shots are pretty mysterious. Like in the monastery you have doors but no walls, some are even more intriguing like the scene where the monk carves the sutra on the wood and its painted in a strange pattern. The mystic feeling refuses to cease. Over all another movie which people with a slight bent of spiritual mind would love. Strong suggestion: Don’t watch it in parts. Finish it in one go to let it sink
oh this movie is breathtaking, i really wonder where its been shot...how magical it would be to visit the place.
ReplyDeleteanother movie which doesnt need subtitles is Color of Paradise-majidi. so poignant.