Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring (original title Bom yeoreum gaeul gyeoul geurigo bom) is a 2003 South Korean film directed by Kim Ki-duk about a Buddhist monastery that floats on a lake in a pristine forest. The story is about the life of a Buddhist monk as he passes through the seasons of his life, from childhood to old age.

On an isolated lake, an old monk lives on a small floating temple. The wise master has also a young boy with him who learns to become a monk. And we watch as seasons and years pass by.

In the midst of the Korean wilderness, a Buddhist master patiently raises a young boy to grow up in wisdom and compassion, through experience and endless exercises. Once the pupil discovers his sexual lust, he seems lost to contemplative life and follows his first love, but soon fails to adapt to the modern world, gets in jail for a crime of passion and returns to the master in search of spiritual redemption and reconciliation with karma, at a high price of physical catharsis…

The film is divided into five segments (the titular seasons), each segment depicting a different stage in the life of a novice Buddhist monk and his older teacher. The segments are roughly ten to twenty years apart, and the action of each takes place during the season of its title. The story unfolds rather simply, but the implications of the characters’ actions are silently commented upon by the presence of various Buddhist symbols and iconography.

Watch Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring online or buy it on DVD.
Ethic statement: the links provided are affiliate ones. You are paying the same price by buying via these links, yet a tiny amount goes towards FIVE Pictures. Take it as a chance to contribute a bit to our mission.

Read original article about the film on Wikipedia.