WARNING:
Spoilers ahead.
I have a feeling, just a feeling, that mainstream
moviegoers would immensely enjoy Spring Summer Fall Winter…and Spring
if they were to actually sit down and watch it. That statement applies to
all other art-house films released these days, as well. The main reason that
the general population provides as to why they do not take interest in
independent and foreign cinema is because the majority of the movies in such
a group are slow and lingering works. While in most cases this is true, it
is a false assumption that the word slow is a synonym for boring and
lingering one for plodding. The director of Spring Summer Fall Winter…and
Spring, Ki-Duk Kim does take his time in allowing his movie to play out,
but the natural beauty of it is so enriching, I have a hard time believing
the experience would fail to sweep any viewer away. Kim, himself, said, in
an interview with IndieWIRE online-magazine, that he doesn’t “think it's
really important how many people watch Spring Summer Fall Winter…and
Spring but rather, WHO watches it.” If every average moviegoer was to
see it, however, I would guess that they would all be the considered “who’s
who” of the foreign-film-viewing circuit, in his book. This is a subtle and
symbolic film, but at the same time, one-hundred times more enthralling than
any old, formulaic box-office smash.
In Spring Summer Fall Winter…and Spring,
Kim uses the seasons as metaphors for different periods of ones
lifetime. There are very few characters in the movie; it centers around just
two people, an older monk (Yeong-su Oh) and his young apprentice (played by
four different actors, one for each part of their character’s life). The two
live in, literally, the middle of nowhere. Their small, minimalist living
space is in the middle of a gorgeous lake inside a valley. They make their
way around their secluded Korean home’s acreage in a wooden canoe. It is a
spiritual setting; just the presence of the scenery is enlightening to the
senses.
In first chapter of the film, spring, the
apprentice (Jae-kyeong Seo), is only about nine-years-old. He finds pleasure
in tying small rocks around the backs of a fish, a frog, and a snake,
disabling them from their ability to move well. After the old monk observes,
he ties a large stone to the back of his learner, not removing it from him
until he finds the three animals, and sets them free. He also warns him that
if any are dead, it will leave him with a life-long emotional scar. This is
exactly the outcome of the events, and the older monk’s word turns out to be
quite truthful later on in the boy’s life.
The second chapter is summer, which chronicles a
season of the apprentice’s life in his teenage years, approximately ten
years later. He is now played by Young-min Kim, in the most powerful of the
portrayals of the character. He now finds romance in a girl (Yeo-jin Ha),
who comes to visit he and his mentor, to be cured of sickness. However, the
entire affair goes much too far when they begin to have sex, and the old
monk discovers that they’re in a relationship. He sends the girl away as
soon as she’s healthy, but the young monk decides to leave, too. Despite his
lifelong house-mate’s warning him that that lust leads to possession, and
possession leads to murder, he lives in the city to find her and marriage
ensues.
In fall, the master turns out to be right, and the
young monk (Kim Young-min) is now a wanted fugitive; he has murdered his
wife. Now thirty, he returns to his old home to hide. The once-apprentice is
undergoing extreme emotional pain, and attempts to kill himself. However, he
is stopped by the old monk before he can do so, and is then found by two
detectives, hauled away to jail. Shockingly, at the end of this chapter, his
elder successfully commits suicide, during a crazed burst of poignancy.
Winter brings redemption, as the now
forty-something man returns to the home for the final time. This sequence is
comprised of a moving set of scenes, all queued to a musical score that
couldn’t have been any more perfect. More importantly, it wonderfully leads
the audience’s souls into a second spring, in which the cycle of life
repeats itself, and the apprentice has now become the same old monk who
cared for him during his childhood. This represents a multi-layered, albeit
traditional, conclusion, which surpasses satisfactory quality.
Karma, reincarnation, simple-living, and fate are
all central themes of the simply moving story. These are not, however,
presented in a strictly Buddhist fashion. Kim finds a way to present them in
a universal manner, forming a common ground with all his viewers and
building great lessons upon it. The events in the first spring still come to
haunt us in the second one, even though, along with the main character,
we’ve come to accept them as a part of life. This is a stunningly realistic
depiction of how people, not just monks, come to cope with
situations. The entire ordeal may seem silly on paper, but it manages to
come across as an epic struggle when experiencing the apprentice’s growth
and achievements in his life. There’s a surreal beauty in Spring Summer
Fall Winter…and Spring that is to be found in a place, far beyond the
gorgeous camera work and isolated setting. It’s a pure and wholesome one,
crafted to be witnessed.
Despite the rather small amount of events that
take place in the movie, there is an epic feel to the material. When the
credits begin to roll, viewers will feel as though the characters have
overcame something. Whatever it may be—grief, sorrow, anguish, fate, belief,
bearing—there’s no denying that ones reaction will be very thoughtful. All
the elements of a great picture are here, and this is precisely why I think
that any person, living on earth, would be able to identify and
respect the achievements of Summer Spring Fall Winter…and Spring. I
don’t expect there’ll be any revelation, in which people will realize that
passing movies like this one by is a mistake, to happen soon. What I can
guarantee, though, is that this is one of the best motion pictures of the
year, and should not be missed by anyone, even if brainless Hollywood
fare, like the recent Troy, is still pulling in the best box-office
figures.
-Danny, Bucket Reviews (5.17.2004)
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