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Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (2003)
"Bom yeoreum gaeul gyeoul geurigo bom" (original title)

8.0
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Ratings: 8.0/10 from 39,027 users   Metascore: 85/100
Reviews: 130 user | 114 critic | 29 from Metacritic.com

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.

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Title: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (2003)

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Cast

Complete credited cast:
Yeong-su Oh ...
Old Monk (as Young-soo Oh)
...
Adult Monk
Young-min Kim ...
Young Adult Monk
Jae-kyeong Seo ...
Boy Monk
Yeo-jin Ha ...
The Girl
Jong-ho Kim ...
Child Monk
Jung-young Kim ...
The Girl's Mother
Dae-han Ji ...
Detective Ji
Min Choi ...
Detective Choi
Ji-a Park ...
The Baby's Mother
Min-Young Song ...
The Baby
Edit

Storyline

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... Written by KGF Vissers

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Plot Keywords:

monk | lust | seasons | catharsis | love | See more »

Genres:

Drama

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some strong sexuality | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
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Details

Country:

|

Language:

Release Date:

19 September 2003 (South Korea)  »

Also Known As:

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

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$42,561 (USA) (2 April 2004)

Gross:

$2,380,788 (USA) (8 October 2004)
 »

Company Credits

Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

Color:

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1
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Did You Know?

Trivia

Ki-duk Kim:  the adult monk at the end of the movie. See more »

Goofs

When the young monk finishes inscribing the Heart Sutra on the floor and falls down exhausted, the inscriptions below him change between shots (even though he is lying motionless). In one shot, the inscriptions he is lying on have been painted; and as he wakes up, the paint is gone. See more »

Quotes

Old Monk: Lust awakens the desire to possess. And that awakens the intent to murder.
See more »

Connections

Featured in Arirang (2011) See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

See more (Spoiler Alert!) »

User Reviews

 
Gave it 10/10 first time, only 6/10 second time
30 June 2004 | by (Topeka, KS) – See all my reviews

My review after seeing it a second time follows this first one (WARNING: SECOND REVIEW HAS SPOILERS)

This beautiful film is one to see more than once -- either in the theater (or in your mind's eye).

I found the discussion group on this film (see the Messag Board for this film title here at IMDb) very helpful in illuminating the symbolism which I partially grasped and in decoding some Buddhist principles.

The setting and the photography that captures it are strikingly beautiful and satisfying. The issues are so universally human that the Buddhist flavor provides an accent and not a barrier.

The story recounts the growth of a child into his adulthood and his eventual reclaiming of his roots and meaning. While the film deals with other Buddhist principles and symbolic elements, a central part of it reminds me of lines from T.S. Eliot's "Four Quartets" which reads (loosely remembered) '...and the aim of all our wandering is to arrive again at the place from which we started and know it for the first time...'

As one sees one cycle end and another begin, it made me wonder about how the old monk first got there and what his life was like.

Symbolic. Complex. Elegantly simple. Beautiful. Evocative. Haunting. Provocative. Gently touching the universal religious and the profound.

10/10

=============

(SPOILERS AHEAD) After 2nd time (03Mar2011):

Buddhists are against hurting animals. SO why wouldn't a wise monk intervene when the young boy in his care was tying stones to the animals? --BEFORE they died? And be aware that teenagers have hormones that often steer them? The recurring gratuitous punitiveness and pain bothered me: the monk beating the young man's back, the demand to carve all night 100s of characters into the wooden deck, the self-immolation, the pulling the weight up the mountain, the nude torso in winter, etc. As if enduring pain for pain's sake helps anything but masochism or sadism?

The film's photography did remain beautiful the 2nd time.

6/10


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