SPRING, SUMMER, AUTUMN, WINTER . . . AND SPRING [2003 / 2004] [DVD] [UK Release] The film is a luminous meditation on the wisdom of Buddhism and one of the best films of the year set on a floating raft monastery in Korea!
On a lake set in a valley in the depths of the mountains sits an isolated dwelling. Here, a Buddhist monk and his young apprentice live in harmony with nature.
As the seasons change and the years pass, the carefree child apprentice becomes a young man filled with desire. Despite the continuing wisdom that his master imparts, the young man finds he is emotionally unprepared for the arrival of a young woman. Dealing with feelings of guilt and jealously, he is forced to confront a darker side of his nature, and resolving to cleanse himself, he serves a penance in the form of a religious mantra. Later, as winter comes and death makes way for new life, the man prepares to take on the role of teacher . . .
Breath-taking and visually arresting, director Kim Ki-duk’s unique and exquisite exploration of human condition and its infinite complexities is one of the most captivating and thought provoking films ever made.
“I intended to portray the joy, anger, sorrow and pleasure of our lives through four seasons and through the life of a monk who lives in a temple on Jusan Pond surrounded only by nature.” Kim Ki-duk [Director]
FILM FACT No.1: Awards and Nominations: 2003 Blue Dragon Awards: Win for Best Film. 2003 European Film Awards: Nominated: Screen International Award for Kim Ki-duk (director). 2003 Locarno International Film Festival: Win: C.I.C.A.E. Award for Kim Ki-duk (director). Win: Don Quixote Award for Kim Ki-duk (director). Win: Netpac Award for Kim Ki-duk (director). Win: Youth Jury Award for Kim Ki-duk (director). Nominated: Golden Leopard for Kim Ki-duk (director). 2003 San Sebastián International Film Festival: Win: Audience Award for Kim Ki-duk (director). 2004 Bangkok International Film Festival: Nominated: Golden Kinnaree Award: Best Film for Kim Ki-duk (director). 2004 Camerimage: Nominated: Golden Frog Award for Dong-hyeon Baek [Cinematography]. 2004 Grand Bell Awards, South Korea: Win: Grand Bell Award for Best Film. 2004 Las Palmas Film Festival: Golden Lady Harimaguada for Kim Ki-duk (director). 2004 Pacific Meridian International Film Festival of Asia Pacific Countries: Win: Grand Prix for Kim Ki-duk (director). 2004 Satellite Awards: Nominated: Golden Satellite Award for Best Motion Picture, Foreign Language [Korea]. 2005 Argentinean Film Critics Association Awards: Win: Silver Condor Award for Best Foreign Film, Not in the Spanish Language (Mejor Película Extranjera en Idioma no Español) for Kim Ki-duk (director). 2005 Association of Polish Filmmakers Critics Awards: Win: Honorable Mention: Best Foreign Film for Kim Ki-duk (director). 2005 Chlotrudis Awards: Win: Chlotrudis Award for Best Movie. Win: Chlotrudis Award for Best Cinematography for Dong-hyeon Baek. 2005 Italian Online Movie Awards: Nominated: Best Cinematography (Miglior fotografia) for Dong-hyeon Baek. 2006 Bodil Awards: Nominated: Best Non-American Film (Bedste ikke-amerikanske film) for Kim Ki-duk [South Korea]. 2006 Danish Film Awards (Robert): Nominated: Robert Award for Best Non-American Film (Årets ikke-amerikanske film) for Kim Ki-duk (director). 2006 Sofia International Film Festival: Win: Burgas Municipality Award 'Silver Sea-Gull' Award for Kim Ki-duk (director).
FILM FACT No.2: "The hermitage that is the stage for ‘SPRING, SUMMER, AUTUMN, WINTER . . . AND SPRING’ is an artificially constructed set made to float on top of Jusanji Pond in Cheongsong County, North Gyeongsang Province in South Korea. Created about 200 years ago, Jusanji Pond (36°21′45.70″N 129°11′22.91″E) is an artificial lake in which the surrounding mountains are reflected in its waters. It retains the mystical aura of having trees more than one hundred years old still growing along its shores. LJ Film was able to obtain permission to build the set after finally convincing the Ministry of Environment through six months of negotiations." The traditional song used near the end of the film, while the adult monk is climbing the mountain, is called "Jeongseon Arirang," sung by Kim Young-im. The film score was composed by Ji Bark.
Cast: Oh Yeong-Su (Old Monk), Kim Ki-duk (Adult Monk), Kim Young-Min (Adult Monk), Seo Jae-Kyung (Boy Monk), Ha Yeo-Jin (The Young Girl), Kim Jung-Young (Child Monk), Kim Jung-Young (The Girl's Mother), Ji Dea-Han (Detective Ji), Choi Min (Detective Choi), Park Ji-A (The Baby's Mother) and Song Min-Young (The Baby)
Director: Kim Ki-duk
Producers: Dong-Joo Kim, Karl Baumgartner, Raimond Goebel, Seung-jae Lee, So-hee Kim and Soma Chung
Screenplay: Kim Ki-duk (writer)
Composer: Ji Bark
Costume Design: Min-Hee Kim
Cinematography: Baek Dong-hyun (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080i
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 (Anamorphic)
Audio: Korean: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
Korean: 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio
Korean: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
Subtitles: English
Running Time: 98 minutes
Region: PAL
Number of discs: 1
Studio: KOREAN PICTURES / LJ FIL LIGHT & JOY / PAMDORE FILM / TARTAN VIDEO RELEASE
Andrew’s DVD Review: With the film ‘SPRING, SUMMER, AUTUMN, WINTER . . . AND SPRING’ [2003] find us at a becalmed lake, a floating hermitage, forested peaks all around and this is director Kim Ki-duk’s serenely beautiful stage, his subject, both startlingly comic and tragic, the theatre of life.
IN A WORLD obsessed with finding significance and validation through being a somebody, ‘SPRING, SUMMER, AUTUMN, WINTER . . . AND SPRING’ tells the story of a solitary monk who has found meaning through forsaking the secular realm and diving deep into the very depths of his own soul. And yet, despite his secluded existence, the outside world inevitably comes a calling, reminding us that detachment can only ever truly be a state of mind and disposition of heart.
Written and directed by Korean auteur, Kim Ki-duk’s exquisitely beautiful masterpiece filmed at Jusan Pond in North Gyeongsang Province in South Korea portrays the subsequent relationship between a Buddhist enunciate and his young protégé, characters whose names are never relayed. Nevertheless, despite the film’s absence of any specific temporal referencing, ‘SPRING, SUMMER, AUTUMN, WINTER . . . AND SPRING’ is a deeply sophisticated meditation on the vagaries of the human condition reflected within the passing seasons of nature.
Akin to Michelangelo Frammartino’s ‘Le Quattro Volte,’ which explores similar themes associated with the transience of life set against a backdrop of the natural landscape, the stunning alpine topography forms an integral element to this elegiac drama, with each of the five titular segments representing a stage in a man’s life and the associated lessons he must learn.
Despite the minimal use of dialogue, through the use of Buddhist iconography and Aesopian symbols, we become acutely aware of the inherent message of the ancient nondual teachings embodied in the doctrine of the Three Universal Truths annica (impermanence), dukka (suffering) and anatta (no self), as they unfold throughout the film, with the principles of the Four Noble Truths and the causes and cessation of suffering and forming the didactical framework through which the plot evolves.
Moreover, in a film steeped in beautiful visual imagery, the lake itself functions as a metaphor for universal mind, its silent waters the very embodiment of the enlightenment state, with the floating hermitage representative perhaps of the fragile self, drifting silently atop its omnipresent depths.
Similarly, the monastery’s humble rowboat is symbolic of the individual’s journey on the spiritual path. Beautifully painted with images of Guan Yin (the bodhisattva of compassion and mercy) as she extends a hand that holds the lotus-born child, Maitreya, the future Buddha, it is the yana or vehicle by which the young monk is transported to his spiritual destiny, across the ocean of samsara to the mountain shore of liberation and release.
And thus it is springtime. In the manner of a dramatized Eastern fable, the film commences with two wooden carved doors of a “gateless gate” creaking open to reveal a mysterious monastery drifting upon the serene surface of a pond, whose sole occupants are an Old Monk [Yeong-su Oh] and his Young Adult Monk disciple [Kim Young-min]. Life is quiet and simple and like any young boy, the master’s student enjoys playing with his puppy and collecting herbs until one day, he is consumed by the capricious cruelties of childhood.
After tying pebbles to a fish, a frog and a snake, the young monk later awakens to find that he himself is fettered by a large smooth stone tied to his back. It is the first harsh lesson to be learnt, not through angry chastisement but by redemptive endeavour, where the Old Monk calmly instructs the young boy to release the creatures from their suffering, vowing that if any of the animals die, “You will carry the stone in your heart for the rest of your life.”
Indeed, the first Noble Truth — the nature of suffering — is a grave precept to take on board at such an early age, made all the more poignant by the weeping of the boy when he discovers that although the frog has managed to survive, both the fish and snake have perished, signaling a portentous omen of that which is yet to come.
The wooden gates open once again, this time on the season of summer. The young novice is now a teenager Boy Monk [Jae-kyeong Seo], moderately adept at keeping the Buddhist rituals of the temple in place. Soon, however, the tranquillity of the hermetic abode is disturbed by the arrival of a young woman [Yeo-jin Ha], afflicted with an unspecified malady. The master allows her to stay in order to restore her physical and mental strength, noting calmly, “When she finds peace in her soul, her body will return to health.”
Needless to say, the young woman awakens sexual desire in the student, with their playful flirtations culminating in passionate lovemaking amidst the shore side rocks and the hull of the master’s rowboat. Upon discovering their secret tryst, the Old Monk is, however, unmoved and simply observes, “Lust leads to desire for possession, and possession leads to murder,” once again foreshadowing later events. He then dispatches the young woman, now healed, back to her mother. The student is devastated and, forsaking his monastery home, follows after her leaving his eremitic life behind.
The lush and arcadian environment where nature is in its fullest bloom has seeped deep into the soul of the student, stimulating the innate need for consummation and lust. Indeed, the master acknowledges the inevitability of his protégé’s actions by stating wryly it is only natural for him to succumb; without the full realization of the Buddha’s teachings, the cause of our pain and anguish, as the second Noble Truth wisely informs us, is unfettered craving and desire.
The wooden threshold now reveals the arrival of autumn. The Old Monk has considerably aged and yet his modest life is as it always was. Returning from a trip to replenish food supplies, by chance, the master notices devastating news about his former student reported in the local newspaper. Anticipating his imminent arrival, the pupil returns, now a thirty-year-old fugitive [Kim Young-min], on the run from a violent crime he has recently committed.
In an act of penance, the student attempts suicide but his master beats him brutally before writing out the Heart Sutra, which means “Prajnaparamitahrdaya or The Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom” on the monastery deck, using his cat’s tail as a calligraphy brush. When he finishes, he commands the young monk: “Carve out all of these characters and while you are carving, anger will be cut out of your heart.” As the disciple’s rage dissipates through the painstaking transcription, two policemen arrive to arrest the young monk and carry him away to his fate.
Once again, the Old Monk is left alone to reflect upon the purpose of life. The Old Monk’s duty towards his former student is now completed for he understands that even the pursuit of wisdom itself is rooted in emptiness. He builds a funeral pyre in the rowboat and, covering his ears, eyes, nose and mouth with paper in the manner of the traditional Buddhist death ritual, is engulfed by flames as the boat drifts slowly across the lake, the scene closing with a snake slithering along the hermitage deck.
The creaking of the wooden doors now reveals winter has descended upon the secluded monastery, long since abandoned and frozen in ice. Once again, the student returns as the director himself, Kim Ki-duk, this time on parole as a mature man in middle age. Coming to the realization that his beloved teacher has left the temporal world, he excavates his master’s charred remains from the icy corpse of the rowboat, placing them on the altar, and then embarks upon a new life of prayer, meditation and qigong.
The monk’s spiritual journey is finally coming to an end as the last two of the Buddha’s Noble Truths are now realized through penance and disciplined adherence to the steps of the Eightfold Path. And thus, in a pilgrimage of atonement for the accumulation of all the suffering in his heart, both unwittingly and wittingly enacted, the monk takes out a statue of Guan Yin, then attaches a millstone to his body with a rope and drags it to the top of a mountain, whereupon he sits in meditation, looking down on his floating hermitage and reflecting upon the unending cycles of human existence.
It is not before long that a veiled woman appears, bearing an infant, whom she entrusts in the care of the monk. Slipping away in the dead of night, the young mother slips on the frozen pond’s surface and falls down a hole, only to be discovered the following morning trapped lifeless under the ice.
The wooden threshold opens one final time on a beautiful spring day. The infant is now a young boy and the former student is now master to his new charge. The student is seen tormenting a turtle, harking back to the capriciousness of his predecessor at the beginning of the tale and the egoism seed of attachment and destruction impregnated within in all beings, preparing us yet again for the cycle of life to start anew …
Thus the circle of life repeats itself again — nature rejuvenates herself every four seasons, man reincarnates himself through the lifespan of every man and yet everything remains exactly as it was, is, and shall forever be. As the film fades into emptiness, for several moments afterwards we feel the ambient sounds of the natural world — the tinkling of the wind chime, birdsong, the lapping of water against the rowboat — continuing to resonate deep within us, instilling reverence for the sacredness of nature and sublimity of the empty void.
Exquisitely scored and shot with each frame exuding the composition of a painting, ‘SPRING, SUMMER, AUTUMN, WINTER . . . AND SPRING’ transmits a transcendental beauty all of its own, elevating the soul with its elegant and timeless aesthetic from innocence, through love and evil, to enlightenment and finally rebirth, subtlety and silently observed by the impassive gaze of a bodhisattva.
‘SPRING, SUMMER, AUTUMN, WINTER . . . AND SPRING’ film takes us through the cycles of universal truths with deceptive effortlessness and like spring water clarity and it is also one volatile film-maker’s ascent towards calm and serenity.
‘SPRING, SUMMER, AUTUMN, WINTER . . . AND SPRING’ is the most beautiful and evocative film I have ever seen. Visually it is fantastic, and the film manages to speak directly to the soul and something deep inside you when watching it, you get to view where it's beauty is. It is a film of about the cycles of life, about solitude and love, innocence, corruption and redemption. Stunning cinematography and lots of allusions and metaphors, as you might expect from Korean cinema. There are some memorable scenes not least the house in winter and the knife writing scene, this is not for those seeking martial arts action films and the film is a good example why cinema is called an art and luckily Hollywood never ever contemplated doing and American version of this film, as it would have been a total disaster.
The film is filmed at one location of a cut-breathing beauty. Beauty of nature is being maximized by the art of the camera. The soundtrack has little dialogue, but the expressiveness of the actors makes the dialogue does not add anymore to the film. You feel the drama, you do not need to hear the words, and the music says more than words. Finally, the following item says it all about this very beautiful and evocative film and sums up everything I feel about his film, now read on . . .
A Man For All Seasons
“The Bodhisattva of Compassion,
When he meditated deeply,
Saw the emptiness of all five Skandha
And sundered the bonds that caused him suffering.”
“Here then,
Form is no other than emptiness,
Emptiness no other than form.
Form is only emptiness,
Emptiness only form.”
“Feeling, thought and choice,
Consciousness itself,
Are the same as this?
All things are by nature void
They are not born or destroyed
Nor are they stained or pure
Nor do they wax or wane.”
“So, in emptiness, no form,
No feeling, thought or choice,
Nor is there consciousness.
No eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind;
No colour, sound, smell, taste, touch,
Or what the mind takes hold of,
Nor even act of sensing.”
“No ignorance or end of it,
Nor all that comes of ignorance;
No withering, no death,
No end of them."
“Nor is there pain, or cause of pain,
Or cease in pain, or noble path
To lead from pain;
Not even wisdom to attain!
Attainment too is emptiness.”
“So know that the Bodhisattva
Holding to nothing whatever,
But dwelling in PrajñÄ [Buddhism] wisdom,
Is freed of delusive hindrance,
Rid of the fear bred by it,
And reaches clearest Nirvana.”
“All Buddha’s of past and present,
Buddha’s of future time,
Using this PrajñÄ wisdom,
Come to full and perfect vision.”
“Hear then the great Dharani,
The radiant peerless mantra,
The Prajnaparamita [Religious text]
Whose words allay all pain;
Hear and believe its truth!”
“Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Svaha Gate Gate
Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Svaha
Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Svaha.”
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DVD Image Quality – KOREAN PICTURES, LJ FIL LIGHT & JOY, PAMDORE FILM and TARTAN VIDEO RELEASE presents the film ‘SPRING, SUMMER, AUTUMN, WINTER . . . AND SPRING’ with a stunning and beautiful 1080i image presentation and a very excellent 1.85:1 anamorphic aspect ratio, and with the film’s stunning location, it gives a very natural appearance that is clear and pristine. The plethora of spectrum of pastel colours feels very natural and the presentation is nonetheless elegant and free of any edge enhancement or dirt and a big surprise for a DVD presentation. The only annoying bad aspect of the white English subtitles is that you can only see half the lettering at the bottom of the screen. Please Note: Playback PAL: This will not play on most Blu-ray and DVD players sold in North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Learn more about Blu-ray region specifications.
DVD Audio Quality – KOREAN PICTURES, LJ FIL LIGHT & JOY, PAMDORE FILM and TARTAN VIDEO RELEASE brings you the film ‘SPRING, SUMMER, AUTUMN, WINTER . . . AND SPRING’ with three Korean audio choices and they are 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio, 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio and 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio experience and there is not a lot of difference between the three different audio experiences. More constructive are the beautiful ambient sounds of nature. All are presented cleanly and well-spaced throughout the soundstage. The audio is lovely and unpretentious-dignified by how little it calls attention to itself. The film is largely without music, but we do have occasionally the sentimental enlightened composed Korean film score by Ji Bark is not very intrusive, but the only annoying aspect was hearing the ghastly Korean song that only serves to intrude dramatically into the atmosphere of the film and was equally very annoying aspect of the audio presentation and would have been best left on the cutting room floor.
* * * * *
DVD Special Features and Extras:
Original Theatrical Trailer [2003] [480i] [1.85:1] [1:46] This is the Original Theatrical Trailer for the film ‘SPRING, SUMMER, AUTUMN, WINTER . . . AND SPRING.’
Special Feature: Behind The Scene [2003] [480i] [1.37:1] [17:05] Here we get to view a sort of home movie of behind-the-scene filming of film ‘SPRING, SUMMER, AUTUMN, WINTER . . . AND SPRING.’ At first we get to see to see them building on the floating wooden platform with all the craftsmen. Then we get a lot of interior views of the little house, and especially lots of close-ups of the colourful Korean carved wooden objects hanging from the ceiling. We then we see the priest comes to bless the building and the floating platform and all the cast and crew also watch the ceremony. Then we get to see scenes being filmed, especially with the young child and the director, as well with the Old Monk. Then we get to see scenes with the Young Monk and The Young Girl, as well as scenes with the Old Monk and the Adult Monk, who returns. Then we get to view scenes of the WINTER section in the film, especially scenes on the frozen lake and of course we get to see the director Kim Ki-duk giving instructions towards the young boy and the Old Monk, on how he wants then to perform a certain way for the shoot. Now we get behind-the-scene filming with the Young Man and the Young Girl, especially certain scenes we get to see in the film. Now we get behind-the-scene filming when the young man, now older comes back after running away from committing the murder of the the young woman he was so in love with, and especially the same scenes you get to view in the film, especially where we see the actor cutting into the wooden platform with his knife. Now we get behind-the-scene filming of the WINTER part of the film, especially with the young woman and the baby. We also get behind-the-scene filming up in the mountain location, and more scenes at the frozen lake. As we get near the end of this special feature, we get to see more behind-the-scene general filming, mainly filmed in the summer period. Once again, you do now and again get the white English subtitles, but again only half the wording appears at the bottom of the screen.
Special Feature: Director Kim Ki-duk Interview [2003] [480i] [1.37:1] [3:07] Here we are provided with a little more context about the film ‘SPRING, SUMMER, AUTUMN, WINTER . . . AND SPRING,’ although ‘Interview’ is a little overstating the case; and director Kim Ki-Duk is perched a little awkwardly on a rock in front of the lake, it looks like it’s shot in. Director Kim Ki-Duk explains that the ideas for ‘SPRING, SUMMER, AUTUMN, WINTER . . . AND SPRING’ came to him after the premiere of ‘The Isle’ at the Sundance Festival. “I felt I needed to confess that I was an Asian director,” he says. The audio quality is poor and Tartan Video actually apologises for it beforehand, but more frustrating still is the elliptical nature of director Kim Ki-duk’s answers, although it’s hard to tell if this is due to a clumsy translation or the nature of the man himself. Once again, you do now and again we get the white English subtitles, but again only half the wording appears at the bottom of the screen.
Special Feature: World Premiere Footage [2003] [480i] [1.37:1] [9:21] Here we get another sort of home movie experience, but this time we get the World Premiere of ‘SPRING, SUMMER, AUTUMN, WINTER . . . AND SPRING’ film with a selected invited audience, but we are not informed where this event happened. After viewing the film, some of the actors and the director appear on the stage and they talk to the audience about their experience working on the film. Then they put a table on the stage and the director and some of the people involved with the finance of the film and again talk about their experience with the film ‘SPRING, SUMMER, AUTUMN, WINTER . . . AND SPRING’ Once again, you do now and again get the white English subtitles, but again only half the wording appears at the bottom of the screen.
Special Feature: Synopsis [2004] [1080i] [1.78:1] [0:59] This is basically a quick synopsis of the outline of the film ‘SPRING, SUMMER, AUTUMN, WINTER . . . AND SPRING’ and explains the meaning of each season we see in the film. All the wording we see on the screen is in Korean, but we do get the white English subtitles at the bottom of the screen, but this time you can actual read the wording.
Finally, ‘SPRING, SUMMER, AUTUMN, WINTER . . . AND SPRING’ is a sensual luscious film written and directed by Kim Ki-Duk is one of the best films of the year. It is a luminous meditation on the wisdom of Buddhism and the cycles of human life as they are played out in the pristine beauty of the natural world. The images of the monastery floating on a raft are perfect in that they enable us to see the transitory and impermanent qualities of the world we live in day by day. Using the four seasons as a backdrop for the spiritual teachings of compassion, suffering, loss, desire, attachment, and transformation works perfectly. We loved feasting our senses upon the 300-year-old tree, the ripples of the pond, the varied animals at the hermitage, the mist that shrouds the pond in mystery, the monks' daily devotional rituals, and the many excursions to shore where a gate opens to the wider world that lies beyond. Everyone who experiences this extraordinary film will savour the complex emotions that make life such an exquisite spiritual teacher. Very Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
