Review
SPRING, SUMMER, FALL, WINTER… AND SPRING
Starring Oh Young-soo, Kim Ki-duk and Kim Young-min
Directed by Kim Ki-duk
Opens Friday, July 2
Plaza Theatre
Watching the beautifully languid Korean film Spring Summer Fall Winter… and Spring, I was reminded of Shel Silverstein's classic children's book The Giving Tree. This isn't a movie with a defined story so much as it is a group of life lessons told over the passing of several years. At each season's end, the lesson is revealed and a new era begins with another life lesson. The cast in both the book and the film is sparse. The Giving Tree had the boy-man and the tree. In Spring Summer Fall Winter… and Spring we have the Old Monk and the Child Monk.
We first meet the Old Monk and the Child Monk in spring – the first of five vignettes that tie into one another like the seasons they represent. The Old Monk and the Child Monk live on a barge in the middle of a lake. The only way off the barge and onto dry land is by way of a rowboat. The Old Monk is a Buddhist healer and The Child, we learn, is his successor. In Spring Summer Fall Winter… and Spring, life is a series of lessons and a cycle wondrous to behold. And you know what? This film is a wonder to behold too.
As we go through the seasons we see the Old Monk get older and the Child Monk grow up. Each season presents a new challenge and each challenge is met with patient wisdom and great care. The film contains almost no dialogue therefore exposition unfolds visually and in its own time. Director Kim Ki-duk has a love for life and respect for his two main characters. This is illustrated by a wonderful device in this movie. The sets feature doors that have no walls to hold them. Inside and outside these doors are always opened when entered, and closed when passed through. Why don't the characters just walk around the doors? Simple. Respect. Respecting the door and its function is something these characters just do. Ki-duk’s approach to the film ensures that there is a function and purpose for everything in this movie.
Ultimately Spring Summer Fall Winter… and Spring is a film that will have you smiling and reflecting about life, the cycles we have and the doors we have to open and close for ourselves. It's a tender movie filled with a simple wisdom and a kind heart and, like the protagonist of The Giving Tree, I felt like I needed to sit on a tree stump and think for a while. |
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