Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and SpringVHS
Approx: 102 min.
Director: Kim Ki-duk
Cast: Oh Young-soo, Kim Ki-duk, Kim Young-min,
Seo Jae-kyung, Ha Yeo-jin Kim Jong-ho
There is a secluded pond between mountains in Korea, where a temple floats in the middle, occupied by an old monk and his young apprentice. The old monk teaches the young apprentice the ways of life as it is in the forest that surrounds them. The apprentice takes a stroll without the old monk, and decides to tease some of the animals by tying rocks to them. What he did not know is the old monk was watching him and decided to teach him a very important lesson the next day. After the apprentice learns his lesson, the seasons change; he is now a bit older. One day as he is coming home from picking herbs, he sees an older lady and her daughter. The apprentice brings them to the old monk for healing. After finding out the healing will take a while, the woman leaves her daughter in the care of the monk until she can be cured.
Kim Ki-duk starred and directed in
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring. The cast did a good job with portraying their characters. With the area Kim Ki-duk chose for the set, you could tell each different season, especially during winter. The streams and lake were frozen and covered with snow, very beautiful and serene.
Audio: 8
Nice melodies set the mood for the turning points in the story. The many background sounds, as well as voices were clearly heard during the entire film. The spoken language is Korean.
Subtitles: 8
The subtitles are a pale yellow with a black shadow, making them very easy on the eyes. The positioning of the subtitles is in the usual place, and did not interfere with the movie. Unfortunately, this movie being on VHS, English is the only language offered.
Video: 7
Being a VHS, the video quality isn’t as clear most DVDs. The picture did seem to be a little bit fuzzy, but no other inconsistencies.
Overall: 7.5
I enjoyed watching
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and spring. The story is a little on the sad side; the young apprentice living in an area with no other children until a girl arrives. How is this going to affect him? One will have to watch to find out.
If you would like to visit the
Official Site (Macromedia Flash 6 is required)