Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring

2003 [KOREAN]

Action / Drama / Romance

47
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 92% · 98 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 92% · 25K ratings
IMDb Rating 8.0/10 10 90216 90.2K

dying and death life and death countryside temple isolation buddhism

Plot summary

An isolated lake, where an old monk lives in a small floating temple. The monk has a young boy living with him, learning to become a monk. We watch as seasons and years pass by.

Director

Ki-duk Kim Photo
Ki-duk Kim

Top cast

Ki-duk Kim Photo
Ki-duk Kim as Adult Monk
Yeong-su Oh Photo
Yeong-su Oh as Old Monk
Jeong-yeong Kim Photo
Jeong-yeong Kim as The Girl's Mother
Dae-han Ji Photo
Dae-han Ji as Detective Ji
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
966.22 MB
1280*714
Korean 2.0
NR
Subtitles us   fr  
23.976 fps
1 hr 45 min
Seeds 11
1.94 GB
1920*1072
Korean 5.1
NR
Subtitles us   fr  
23.976 fps
1 hr 45 min
Seeds 72

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by kellan-uk 9 / 10

understated beautiful contemplative

a film of about the cycles of life, about solitude and love, innocence, corruption and redemption. stunning cinematography. lots of allusions and metaphors, as you might expect from Korean cinema. contemplative.the story appears to centre on the life of buddhist monks living on a floating house, but as the film progresses, one sees that this is a film about the constancy within change and renewal. The female characters are not the most positive roles, representing corruption and temptation, tho also providing the means for renewal.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,personally i found it slipped into one of favourite films list.
Reviewed by Quinoa1984 9 / 10

a Buddhist meditation on life and death, and what surrounds us

I remember when I saw this film on screen last year, I was struck by the rhythm director Kim Ki-Duk used in the film. It's deliberate, too deliberate for most I'd suppose. But like a reading good piece of philosophy, the filmmaker allows the viewer to get as much as they may find in the work. The story is more of a fable than a really conventional narrative- a baby is delivered to the steps of a Buddhist house on a lake, where the boy is raised by a master. He grows up, and falls temptation to the desires of the world. He decides to leave, only to return and find himself again. In the end, as winter comes, things come full circle. Each of the 'seasons' of the film are handled delicately, with the kind of simplicity that may appeal even more to children (the segment of the first 'spring' with the child transcends religion and goes into the basic stance of nature). The scenes of finding lust in 'summer' is not terribly graphic, but it puts the point on what is right and wrong in the customs and traditions of the religion. Then in 'Autumn', there are harsher lessons to be learned, and this also contains the best acting from the old master and the young, angry pupil. And 'Winter' becomes the most meditative of them all, with next to no dialog. Indeed that may be the turn off to most viewers- to say that the film isn't supported by dialog is an under-statement. And its not necessarily documentary realism. What I sensed from the film, and what stuck with me for a few days afterward, was the spiritual attitude behind the style, the confidence that the rhythm had a connection with the subject matter. It's one of the most soulful films to come out of the Eastern world in some time. It's less a traditional drama than a unique experience, for better or worse, really more for the better.
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