Friday 27 January 2006
Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter...and Spring (2003)
I thought I knew what to expect from this Korean film from the clips I had seen and thought it would be a meditation on the beauty and tranquility of life over the successive seasons. Well not quite. First of all there were substantial time gaps between the five sections of the film and secondly it did not follow the same characters in each section. Spring with an elderly monk and his young disciple segued into Summer with the same monk and the much older disciple. Similarly by the end we were left with a monk and his young charge -- but two different people. Also given the ravishing beauty of the images, I was not expecting scenes of sexual activity, police investigations, self-immolation , and sudden death-- all present. I think the message that life continues albeit in different forms remains clear and I feel that this is a film that my mind might well drift back to over the months ahead.
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Hi! Back from holiday and had to drop by. Quickly though, going out already again, bit of a longer read tommorrow.
Oh man if I have a new favourite film of all time it was this.
The words Korean and film together get me excited.
The old monk in the last segment was the young boy in the first. Now in this episode he had taken on a charge so the whole thing had gone full circle. It was the story of his life as he passes through the many tests modern life proves to the ancient Buddhist beliefs instilled by his master when he was young.
Such a different take on life, different beliefs, and that scenery...... it was like I could smell it, taste it..... I go into the cinema with a little too much imagination....
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