dannatyo
The film "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring", created by the Korean film director Kim Ki-duk, was highly appreciated among the critics and was awarded with many global prizes, and after watching this I can easily understand why. Atmospheric - that is the appealing word to describe this film. Everything, starting from the amazing landscapes, and ending with barely-heard beautiful music, make viewers to be completely immersed in this parable-like movie. With the minimum amount of words, the creators of the film clearly delivered the story, and have let every viewer to make his own conclusion.
In my opinion, the idea of the film coincides with the Buddhist ideology, that life is full of suffering; it is a continuous battle with yourself, with your own cravings, attachments and unnecessary emotions. During the whole film, the main character is trying to conquer himself and to become like his master. Starting from the period when he, as a boy, attains pleasure from seeing the sufferings of animals and ending with the time when his lust turned him into a murderer. All this way through, his teacher is trying to help him, by attaching the stone to him and thus, showing how instant karma works, or by detaching him from the woman, the object of the disciple's passion. The teacher expects that he would be able to change the life of this boy by teaching him all that he knows. But the Wheel of Samsara is continuously turning because all creatures are sinful, and it is very hard to escape it, as well as it is hard to escape the fact that after spring where will be fall, and after fall there will be winter and on and on.
Throughout the film, we can see different interesting Buddhist signs and references. The first thing that catches the attention is that nobody in this film has the name. It may be connected with the Buddhist idea of "no-self", that there is no permanent "self" in us. Another example, when the boy decides to leave, he takes with him the statue of Buddha and the rooster. By doing that he wants the revenge, he wants to hurt his teacher by taking away the things that his teacher loved and was attached to, the same as the teacher separated the disciple from his woman. But rooster in Buddhism symbolizes lust and attachment, so metaphorically speaking, the disciple takes this sin with him to his further life. Another episode, when the teacher burns himself after the monk goes to jail, the snakes come out. Snake in Buddhism symbolizes hatred emotion, so probably this was because the teacher was full of hatred and disappointment in his disciple and in himself, because he failed to pass the Dharma effectively. Or probably because even the disciple tried to get rid of the hatred through cutting the Sutra, it was still left in him.
That is the fascinating feature of this movie - everybody can understand and interpret this story according to his understanding. But the main moral is clear - it is all in your mind, which always should be in peace and not deceived by physical attachments, lust, cravings, hatred, and only through abandoning this, it would be possible to change the frailty of life and stop the Wheel of Samsara. Or how it was said in the movie: "The suffering is in her mind. When she finds peace in her mind, her body will return to health".
Overall, I think it is a great movie. It greatly demonstrates the basics of Buddhist ideology and some of the Eastern cultural features. I think it may seem for some viewers to be a little slow, or lack of actions and words, but again, that is the feature of Asian movies, of their culture and mentality. There is a good camera work, amazing nature shown, good storyline, and more importantly, it provides a great food for thought, even for those, who are not interested in Buddhism.
Kirpianuscus
it is the first word for define it. because it is a not ordinary beauty. but a sort of trip in spiritual air. its gracious simplicity, its moral lessons, who define each religious attitude, its delicacy, the flavor of images, the ways of the young disciple and the presence of the master, the temptation and the joy, the precise manner to suggest more than present, the bitter temptation and the return are pieces of a fascinating work. and this does the film an event. or a precious seed for useful memories. because all is a form of reflection of the viewer. because each scene becomes a chance to discover yourself. like in a large mirror who discovers the hidden side of yourself. short, a film who must see. for remind old impressions about Extreme East. or for escape from the every day pressure and the temptations of media.
joehemmings68
The first thing to say about this film is that visually it's gorgeous. It's set entirely around a lake with a temple that floats on it. It's an incredible location that remains as we make large leaps through time. The film makers have made the absolute most of their location with excellent cinematography. I also really loved the music which varies from ambient to amazing singing.I loved the start of this film, the spring section, it was a very early peak for me. Here we see the student of the temple as a young boy. In terms of child acting this is about as good as you'll ever see. He's allowed to behave in a perfectly natural way, rather than acting, and that gets the absolute best from the section. His childish ways of interacting with the world feel very real, and are both funny and poignant as he learns valuable lessons. The film continues with this more amusing tone as the student moves into maturity. Some of the comedy works really well here, and some of it falls a bit flat. I felt this is where the characterisation of the student fell a bit. The film has a tendency to draw things out in such a way that they can be very effective, but they can also be slightly awkward. The film becomes far darker and more serious, but also wants to retain a darkly comedic element, for me it doesn't quite work tonally. Throughout the film are two constants. The symbolism, and the Master. So much symbolism in this film which certainly adds a level of intrigue as you form opinions as to what the recurring imagery could mean. The director has done a great job of putting these things front a centre without having them be a distraction. The Master is a brilliant character, wonderfully acted. Subtle and mysterious, very little of him is revealed which gives him a wonderful air of mystery. All in all, this is well worth a watch. Beautiful to look at and will leave you pondering once it's finished.
