So live between great forgiveness and your own torment.
Culture, traditions and, what is important, the religion of any people is always reflected in one form or another in films. The culture of the East, and in particular Buddhism is a very deep thing, which at one time influenced even the advanced minds of Europe, remember at least the World as the will and representation of Arthur Schopenhauer. Many have already noticed that the basic concepts, in particular the principles of nirvana and the idea of preparing man for the world of non-existence sound rather scientifically, not at all like a theological concept devoid of any empirical approach.
Through the prism of Buddhism, the film in its essence tries to show us the main, I would even say archetypal arch in human life, filtered from the petty being strife and derivatives of life in society. How long can he do that? I think you need to see for yourself, because I do not have the opportunity to convey in words the entire depth of this tape.
It so coincidental that the day before I was watching the film "Andrey Tarkovsky "Andrey Rublev". And I was amazed at how succinct the thoughts and dialogues of Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter... and Spring Again fall on a completely different cultural world, and vice versa. When you watch it again, you are convinced that any religion carries a huge key to understanding the world and itself, and all of them, most interestingly, say the same thing for thousands of years.
So live between the great forgiveness and your own torment" - a line from the movie "Andrey Rublev.
"Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter... and Spring Again" is a beautiful film, just a very beautiful film. If you are at least a little close to Asian aesthetics, then the picture of Korean director Kim Ki-duk should please visually. The story of two monks living in a pagoda on a mountain lake is perfectly filmed. Nature here is one of the main characters, and the signs of each season - the reflection of trees in the water, the rustling of golden leaves, shining snow in the sun - fascinate with grandeur and tranquility.
Secondly, a chic visual series corresponds to the philosophical content. Each time of the year corresponds to the time in a person’s life: childhood, youth, maturity and old age. And even a monk cannot resist the feelings that haunt us at any given age, just as no one can stop the change of seasons. With a Buddhist dimension, Kim Ki-duk paints the cyclical nature of being and patterns of human behavior, making the viewer think about his own life path.
Snake, fish, frog with a pebble. Lodge in the middle of the lake. The boy. Young man. Girl. Old man. ..
The film is either a parable, or a fairy tale, or a set of picturesque paintings. We are either taught something, or shown simply the philosophy of life, noticed by the filmmaker.
Life. There are so many interesting things, so many different acquaintances. There are so many things in life that you want to meet. We have a very inquisitive male character who learns about life and, in the end, the most seductive part for him is the girl. He just can't resist ... he doesn't even understand what, what kind of weapon she's captured him with ... terrible female weapons of mass destruction of men with the nuclear effect of destroying everything young and virgin in him. In exchange for the destroyed, she will give him darkness.
History. The history of our lives, if you subtract everything insignificant, can also be summarized quite briefly. What would you fill it with like a vessel of life?
If you think about the essential and insignificant, burn out the extra, what will remain of a person? Ashes? Ashes. And even it is unimportant, scattered by the wind of time. We are nothing in the midst of nothingness.
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God created Adam and Eve. Satan couldn’t have just approached Adam. But he realized that the way to a man's heart was through her woman. And so the devil, through reason, took possession of the heart of Adam. Lucifer was very jealous of people. But who let this happen? And who had the original plan of knowing the good and evil of all men? Who let the serpent into the Garden of Eden?
Man is nothing. He's just part of the plan. The fish on which the stone of sin was hung is an unbearable burden. And many die with him in the water of life... but some are saved. Sometimes someone saves us suddenly. The one who hung the stone.
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There's an old man in the caste ... very much reminded of someone, and still yes: this is one of the heroes of the series ' Squid Game' perhaps the most charismatic.
You know what the beauty of hockey is? In how with the help of an incredible small one can say almost infinite. And “Spring, summer, autumn, winter ... and again spring” is a vivid confirmation of this.
The film is made in a truly masterpiece. It is a shame that such a genius of world cinema as Andrei Tarkovsky could not live to see the release of this picture. It is doubly offensive, for it is removed according to all its canons. No vulgarity, nothing superfluous, each frame in its place and displays reality as it is. Cinema images line up easily and imperceptibly, like the rustle of the wind in the tranquility of a sunny day or the murmur of a stream flowing into an old pond. Metaphors, dreams and innermost desires are inextricably woven into a coherent narrative. Kim Ki-duk put himself on a par with such artists as Matsuo Basho or Katsushika Hokusai, having done such a colossal work that he will remain like mountains for centuries. It's not a movie. This is a revelation.
Acting, as it always happens in works of such quality and scale, as if completely obeyed the genius of the author. Every look, every curvature of the body only emphasizes the message conceived by the director. I usually distinguish one or more actors from the caste, but here they all merged into a single whole, which I think clearly says a lot.
I don't even want to touch the story. Like a calm water surface, they just want to admire, live and feel it. The story of the eternal, and how mercilessly small our stones of care against the background of this eternal. Buddhism tells us not to give up everything, but only not to bind ourselves to the unnecessary, remaining one with the universe. Come when you need to come. And leave when you have to leave. Everything else will make time. Seasons will change each other, the leaves will fall and open again from the green buds. And even something as powerful as love will remain a scar of the past. If we go back from heaven to earth for a second and look at the film with a sober look, we can still see the genius of the picture. Countless unique images lie in literally everything. In a secluded temple, like the consciousness of a person, into which he is free to let heavy thoughts or leave them outside the gates. In an age-old oak tree, as if time itself had absorbed every moment. Even in a small cat, which is like a messenger of the universe, personifying its will in all its purity and purity.
“Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter... and Spring Again” is a movie for centuries.
Spring, summer, autumn, winter... and again spring
I was a little confused when I looked at the rating of this movie. I understand, of course, that there are people in Russia who love Kim Ki-duk’s work very much, but I didn’t know there were so many of them. This is Kim Ki-duk’s most popular film. Although I used to think that the most popular film of Kim Ki-duk is “Island” or “Strained string”. Is that good or bad? It doesn’t matter, but the important thing here is that Kim Ki-duk made a very strong film.
By the way, the film “Straight string” is a bit like “Spring...” You can accuse Kim Ki-duk of repeating himself, but still his films will remain the wisest in Korean cinema. What's this movie about? It's about one very big circle of life. The seasons change, and human life changes, but then everything begins again. You might think that Kim Ki-duk made a very simple film, given his previous films, but I really enjoyed the film.
I like it when people don’t talk in movies, and there will be very little dialogue. But behind the scenes will always sound very pleasant music. And with my hand on my heart, I can tell you that this is Kim Ki-duk's most beautiful film. The nature in this film is beautiful. Despite some tough moments in the film, it’s still very easy to watch. I watched the movie lying on the bed and I felt very good inside.
Even Kim Ki-duk himself decided to play a small role in his film. By the way, the most powerful moment in the film occurs when Kim Ki-duk appears. If I didn’t know that this movie was very popular on this site, then I would say that this movie is not for everyone. But a lot of people liked the movie, so I’m confused. If you haven’t seen this movie yet, I highly recommend watching it. There are very few such deep and wise paintings. A masterpiece.
The film tells about the cyclical nature of life and human existence.
An insanely beautiful meditative film that evokes a huge range of emotions in similar locations. A wonderful story, which is beautifully shown, suggesting different thoughts.
I watch it every year and recommend 100%. By the way, who did not understand the scene with a child and a woman in a purple scarf: perhaps she was terminally ill and gave the child to monasticism, because she could not provide better future. So I didn't let her see her face, maybe it was in the process of being sick or she was contagious. Why was the scarf purple in such a symbolic film?
And when she escaped in the night and fell under the ice, the monk's disciple again felt guilty, thinking that it was his hole that led to the death of the young mother, so he again put on a stone and climbed the mountain with a statue of Buddha, as an atonement for guilt. (Like I did when I was a kid.)
In any case, life disposed of the woman in this way - either saved from a painful death or punished for deciding to abandon her child, losing faith in the best.
The cycle of birth and death. A soul drowning in the ocean of Samsara.
What can I say about this movie?
Sensual, spiritual, deep as the boundless sea, but so peaceful, as when you look at the surface of the water surface, so silent, almost motionless, not imagining the real depth of the whole picture. This is the movie, simple but secret. A mystery that everyone has thought about at least once in their lives. What is life?
The seasons that come and go, we see winter replaced by spring, a boy growing into a man, a monk replacing another monk. This is the process of our life, clearly opening our eyes to something really important, that we forget in the bustle of the earth.
The cycle of birth and death. A soul drowning in the ocean of Samsara.
Watching such films, the director himself becomes very interesting. A person who shoots such pictures, who is able to convey his vision of the world so subtly and purely, is worthy of a reward. And just because it teaches people this way.
I think a lot of people don’t understand the film. It is not about Buddhism at all, although the characters only do that they dance around Buddha statues. The film is as anti-Buddhist as possible.
A film about a vicious circle in which a repentant sinner hypocritically put on the clothes of a monk Buddha, raises a child, but of course can not educate anyone other than another repentant sinner.
Of course, there is a metaphor for the entire human race, and that sons do not learn from the mistakes of their fathers, instead repeating their mistakes generation after generation. And there's something about Buddhism. But the point is different. He is that the greatest sin that a person can admit is the sin of educating himself such a nothingness, when the original monk understands what he has done - it is too late, the circle of life has already gone to a new turn, his disciple stands on his path, presumptuously thinking that he will succeed, but as we see in the end - no.
Either educate better or do not educate at all. And the Buddhist renunciation of life, monastic solitude, is all tuftah. Did all this help the main characters? Not at all.
I loved the Buddhist story about concentration, about miracle, about wisdom, about rebirth, about working on oneself and looking inward. The scene of overcoming oneself through cruel uncompromising work is brilliant. Scenes of peace resonate in me, especially in the constancy of monotonous actions - rowing on a boat, collecting herbs, praying, opening and closing doors.
The interaction with nature in me generated a passion to live, and the scenes with the cat told me about love and care.
The film is about the work of cultivating a person within himself, which only a person can do - to realize, accept, overcome and become free, at the moment for which he was preparing his whole life.
The film caused me deep sympathy for the boy who is forced to live with an indifferent monk and is left solely to himself.
In the end, I remembered a brutal experiment. Newborn monkeys were torn away from their mothers and placed in a room with two dummies. The first: the frame of the monkey body with a bottle, the second - the frame, covered with wool. Experimenters noticed that the babies ran up to the bottle only to eat, and most of the time spent on a wool dummy.
Grown monkeys could not raise their children, take care of them. They were indifferent to children, they had no maternal instinct.
It seemed to me that the director wanted to talk about the dangers of attachment (the metaphor with the stone screams about it from the first minutes). But really, this film is about how traumatic it is to not have a strong attachment to a living, empathetic, open person.
Faces of Contemporary Asian Cinema: Kim Ki-duk (part 6)
If Island was destined to become Kim Ki-duk’s hallmark, Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter... and Spring Again is his most celebrated film. Once again, as in previous times, breaking away on the theme of cruelty and the intertwining of violence and love in “Bad Guy” and “Shore Guard”, in “Spring, Summer...” the Korean director for the first time in his career decides to shoot a kind film with a minimum of dialogue, extreme and shocking. Paradoxically, he succeeds so successfully that later in "Empty House" and "Strained bowstring" he tries to consolidate his artistic success by exploiting similar themes and motives.
Nevertheless, as the finale shows, "Spring, Summer..." is a hopeless movie, albeit wise in its knowledge of people and life. Concentrating on four seasons of not only nature, but also human life, the director shows the evolution of the characters over the years: first it is a teacher and a student (the first three seasons), then another teacher and student, repeating in many ways the mistakes of the first. There is a place for growing up, love stories, and crime with punishment, but the main thing in this picture, as many critics have noticed, is an attempt to explain on your fingers, first of all, to the Western viewer the basics of the Buddhist worldview.
The primary impression of the viewer’s delight in the wonderful landscapes and the idea of the unity of man with nature is soon destroyed: as it turns out, in the East there is a place for dramas and tragedies that are insoluble in their existential entanglement. Here the teacher, who knows everything about people and the world, has extinguished his thirst for life, and this does not bring him joy and peace, and his student, having passed the path of delusions and transgressions, dreams of becoming part of a harmonious whole again. In my opinion, “Winter” is the most foreign episode in the structure of the film, the director himself plays here, he should portray a new teacher, but it turns out that he is extremely bad, as well as bringing a new student to him (and also: how a teacher could climb the mountains, leaving a child alone, I do not understand) looks ridiculous.
“Spring, Summer...” is an extremely loose film in structure, although atmospheric it is maintained at the proper level, almost refusing to demonstrate the vicissitudes of love with its peculiar language, Kim Ki-duk certainly took a step forward, expanding the theme of his work. However, swinging at a semi-religious-semi-philosophical statement should have required it to be more epic, multi-figure, complex structure, many characters, and not a chamber format. He did not take this into account, the result was a good kind of film with gloomy conclusions that the wheel of rebirth condemns humanity to senseless suffering in the insatiable pursuit of desires. In this regard, the tape of Kim Ki-duk is somewhat reminiscent of Bertolucci’s “Little Buddha”, but without the Western inflated interest in retelling Eastern philosophy.
Life moves inexorably forward. Today, we are little children who play in the sandbox, unaware of what lies ahead. Tomorrow comes - we are adults, everyone walks along the path that life has prepared for him and looking back, we wonder: "When did all this happen, when I became an adult?" Someone hides their skeletons in the closet, someone challenges them.
With every new Korean-made film, Korea opens up new shades for me. Very different techniques of shooting, very different methods of storytelling. It’s getting harder for Hollywood to surprise me with its works, while the Eastern countries, their culture for me is still behind the curtain, so every film from those edges is absolutely something new, intriguing and unpredictable.
I met Kim Ki-duk for the first time, but I already know that after writing this review, I will go see something from his repertoire. .. Great movie, great story, great direction. The camera, which moves very slowly or even stands still almost the entire timekeeping, forces the viewer to look at every object that is in the frame. The music also adds to the atmosphere. The teacher and the student live in a house in the middle of a lake in a valley among the mountains. The beginning raises a lot of questions, but over the course of the film, step by step, everything falls into place, which further makes my jaw hang in the air. The boy will have to learn to live, change the craft of a mentor, and the teacher, in turn, should prepare him for this. What struck me the most were the ways in which the lessons were taught to the pupil, the lessons from which I am sure will remain with him for life. But the world is insidious, in every hole snakes can wait for another victim, in every corner - temptation. And everyone fights with them as best they can, as they were taught, and it would be good for all such teachers, as Kim Ki-duk showed us in his robot.
Great movie, look at your health!
I tried to watch this movie several times, but the most boring narrative pushed me away, and then years later, in a moment of sadness, I opened the film in a search engine and looked to the end. Everyone in this film will see their philosophy, their thoughts. I'm sure in a few years I'll see other signs. In the meantime, I'll tell you what I saw. Careful, spoiler. I was moved by the moment when a teacher watches a student during animal atrocities and doesn't say a word to him! Word... The world is full of words and information, and there is so little action that follows words, so the teacher teaches his pupil by action, only then will the full realization of his sin come. Action is important, I thought. In our everyday lives, we often cry out, proving ourselves right, but we just have to go and do it. The return of the prodigal son. The moment when the teacher guesses about the committed crime of the student, but not a drop of condemnation! We are all so used to judging everyone that we forget that there are no bad and good people, there are bad and good deeds. The teacher helps the student to cleanse himself of the anger in his soul and heart. Even the policemen who arrived for the killer allow him to finish his work, help and even cover the tired with a warm jacket. And it changes, so that time passes to realize and understand, to rethink. His soul is reborn. He finds life again, but events repeat themselves, recalls Sisyphus, who rolled his stone uphill, and he always rolled down. Maybe we need to change something about ourselves. . .
Today I watched a simple film, without special effects and large-scale plot twists "Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter... and Spring Again" 2003, Kim Ki-duk. In the film there are no superfluous characters and locations, all the action takes place in a houseboat on a lake. And the main characters are only two - an old sage and his disciple, whose mother threw him in early childhood.
Although there is no action in the film, this does not prevent the picture from keeping the viewer in suspense and looking in one breath. And the simplicity of the plot only attracts attention to the very end. Since we follow not the plot itself, but the psychological aspects of the heroes’ lives, in which the viewer can find himself.
Each season is a parallel between the life stages of the student and how he resists or succumbs to temptation. No wonder it's called the seasons. Spring is childhood, childishness and disobedience. Summer is adolescence, first love and lust. Autumn is youth, murder and escape from the police. Winter is the funeral and change of owner of a floating house. Everything is just like life itself.
The metaphor of transience runs through the whole picture: the seasons change, the day changes at night, people change, but only human mistakes remain unchanged: this is what the little student demonstrates. The film clearly shows his growing up, vices, mistakes made. Will he be able to correct them or will he accept punishment?
In more than an hour you realize that:
Lust breeds hatred and the desire to kill.
Everything is repeated from year to year;
Only sincere awareness of mistakes is forgiven;
The main desire in life is inner harmony and tranquility.
You don’t have to worry about problems;
- time is fleeting. Why strive for something, try to leave a mark when you can live and enjoy the little things? It doesn’t hurt when you don’t get anything back.
This movie opened my eyes to a lot of things in my life. I reimagined the unnecessary communication that pulls down and was able to part with people as “parasites.” She realized that her hometown had become small and stuffy, and moved from Siberia to Kazan. I decided to change my life drastically. And most importantly, I began to appreciate loved ones and tell them every day how much I love them.
What kind of teacher are you, if you do not warn, do not reveal the Light and the ends - the consequences of vain desires and desires to the Other, you are not a Teacher, you are simply, only in the flesh, a part of this vital, universal rotation, unchanged from the ages - spring, summer, autumn, winter ... and on. Like stones, like water, like grass. Why are you in your solitude on this lake, why do you need a pupil whom you cannot teach anything, and a pupil of a pupil toying with a turtle, just as you are ' amused' with a fish, a frog, a snake... And it will one day be your destiny? Will he follow you into a cycle of fatal doom? Then why did he climb the mountain with a stone behind him and a statue of Buddha?
Achieving personal enlightenment without being responsible for anything? You are not even a guide to spiritual enlightenment. You are the observer of eternity, her eyes, you are not allowed to interrupt its flow by your intervention. And if you realize this, if a hunch comes - you have no place among living beings, you have to leave, burning your insight with fire. Another came... And the chain of ignorance about why you came into this world was restored. The knowers go away... the ignorant come, they will try to unravel the meaning of everything. What if it doesn't make sense? Just spring, summer, autumn, winter. .
To begin with, although the review is negative, the movie still deserves to be seen, at least to form its own opinion.
I don’t think suicide is acceptable to Buddhism. Of course, the attitude to suicide there is not as harsh as in Christianity, but it is definitely condemned. As far as I understand, a suicide at least condemns itself to not the best reincarnation, and is infinitely far from enlightenment.
Suicide is usually interpreted as an admission of one’s own defeat (moral or otherwise). How is it presented in the film?
I didn’t see a deep message in the story. Yeah, that's a good idea when it comes to samsara. Samsara is a rebirth ring, how else to demonstrate it as not a ringed plot. But it is implemented here somewhat clumsy, and does not brilliantly illustrate the idea of samsara.
Because to show the closure of the ring special trick is not necessary. The point is to show alternatives, and that is not the case. Man changes! And the ring is fixed and closed. Why?
Well, a little remark about the fact that the film “does not flirt with the audience.” And the scene where the monk practices martial arts? What's her message? And is it not pop as it is, the most that neither is flirting with the viewer raised on films about Shaolin?
In general, I am one of those who tend to believe that most of what is done in Russia is a letter G, as in Slepakov’s song (this is a small digression, so as not to be accused in absentia of leaven patriotism). But here is the rare case when our “Island” with Lungin in my opinion is stronger than this famous picture.
And I'll end where I started. If the picture was not seen, but heard about it, then it is still worth looking. To form an opinion, as I did.
This is the first Korean film I have seen in my life. At first I was very skeptical about their cinema, but after watching my opinion changed dramatically. I have never seen a more profound and meaningful film. He changed my mind and made me think a lot. But everything in order.
Many, describing the film, resort to the designations presented in it. Namely, the seasons. I understood the meaning of the painting a little differently, so my chronology looks like this:
Awakening. The little novice learns the world, with all its shortcomings and imperfections. They also have their first bitter experience. The shortest part of the movie. It is in it that the general idea of the picture is formed, which will later pass through all the novels as a red thread.
Cognition. The disciple grows up and begins to experience a feeling hitherto unknown to him. The longest chapter. Looking a little boring, and generally very predictable. But that doesn't make that part bad. On the contrary, it is here that the main storyline is set, so that further chapters cause more interest.
Redemption. Once again, the wise monk encounters his novice. But now, to help cleanse his soul of terrible anger. The most shocking chapter of the film. But at the same time the most philosophical. A lot of people will be touched. I can't say anything else because I can accidentally spoil.
Revival. Once again we have a novice before us, but now at the age of his wise mentor. He has a long way to go to enlightenment. The strongest part of the movie. It can even be called in a way fascinating. The torment is over, only an empty shell remains. Which must be filled with the meaning of life.
Awakening. And finally, the director left us a little epilogue. This is what all the previous chapters have led to. Life does not tolerate diversity, it goes in circles.
The movie is amazing. In my opinion, he clearly deserves a place higher in the Top 250. It is a must-see!
Spring. Summer. Fall. Winter. Spring again. Season turns into season. The sun is rain. And the rain is snow. People change each other, only their mistakes remain the same. From generation to generation.
Sometimes we give too much importance to meaningless things, irretrievably losing what gives us the main meaning in life: to be in simplicity, in harmony with nature and inner self. Under the primitive instincts of curiosity and lust, we follow the imaginary mind, drowning in problems, stress and eternal haste among similarly blind, inconspicuous and lost people.
This film teaches us what we have lost. It reminds us that everything we came to in our ideas was invented ahead of us and afterward – our descendants will be trampled by the same rake. This film teaches us that nature was as it was before us and will be after, which loses all meaning in our lofty problems and bad thoughts: should we strive all our lives to leave behind something material, despite the attention to moments of real happiness until regrets begin, and time, alas, no longer turn back.
The moral of this fable is this.
1. Everything is constant, inevitable and repeated.
2. Human mistakes are base and predictable, but forgivable when realized.
3. The main desire in life is wisdom, tranquility and inner harmony.
4. Love begets lust. You can't hide from lust. And this entails the inevitable indirect desire to kill.
5. And most importantly, do to others what you want to see in return.
8 out of 10
This is the first Korean film I have seen in my life. At first I was very skeptical about their cinema, but after watching my opinion changed dramatically. I have never seen a more profound and meaningful film. He changed my mind and made me think a lot. But everything in order.
Many, describing the film, resort to the designations presented in it. Namely, the seasons. I understood the meaning of the painting a little differently, so my chronology looks like this:
Awakening. The little novice learns the world, with all its shortcomings and imperfections. They also have their first bitter experience. The shortest part of the movie. It is in it that the general idea of the picture is formed, which will later pass through all the novels as a red thread.
Cognition. The disciple grows up and begins to experience a feeling hitherto unknown to him. The longest chapter. Looking a little boring, and generally very predictable. But that doesn't make that part bad. On the contrary, it is here that the main storyline is set, so that further chapters cause more interest.
Redemption. Once again, the wise monk encounters his novice. But now, to help cleanse his soul of terrible anger. The most shocking chapter of the film. But at the same time the most philosophical. A lot of people will be touched. I can't say anything else because I can accidentally spoil.
Revival. Once again we have a novice before us, but now at the age of his wise mentor. He has a long way to go to enlightenment. The strongest part of the movie. It can even be called in a way fascinating. The torment is over, only an empty shell remains. Which must be filled with the meaning of life.
Awakening. And finally, the director left us a little epilogue. This is what all the previous chapters have led to. Life does not tolerate diversity, it goes in circles.
The movie is amazing. In my opinion, he clearly deserves a place higher in the Top 250. It is a must-see!
This is the first Korean film I have seen in my life. At first I was very skeptical about their cinema, but after watching my opinion changed dramatically. I have never seen a more profound and meaningful film. He changed my mind and made me think a lot. But everything in order.
Many, describing the film, resort to the designations presented in it. Namely, the seasons. I understood the meaning of the painting a little differently, so my chronology looks like this:
Awakening. The little novice learns the world, with all its shortcomings and imperfections. They also have their first bitter experience. The shortest part of the movie. It is in it that the general idea of the picture is formed, which will later pass through all the novels as a red thread.
Cognition. The disciple grows up and begins to experience a feeling hitherto unknown to him. The longest chapter. Looking a little boring, and generally very predictable. But that doesn't make that part bad. On the contrary, it is here that the main storyline is set, so that further chapters cause more interest.
Redemption. Once again, the wise monk encounters his novice. But now, to help cleanse his soul of terrible anger. The most shocking chapter of the film. But at the same time the most philosophical. A lot of people will be touched. I can't say anything else because I can accidentally spoil.
Revival. Once again we have a novice before us, but now at the age of his wise mentor. He has a long way to go to enlightenment. The strongest part of the movie. It can even be called in a way fascinating. The torment is over, only an empty shell remains. Which must be filled with the meaning of life.
Awakening. And finally, the director left us a little epilogue. This is what all the previous chapters have led to. Life does not tolerate diversity, it goes in circles.
The movie is amazing. In my opinion, he clearly deserves a place higher in the Top 250. It is a must-see!
Life does not tolerate diversity, but goes in a spiral.
- What we like may also please others.
I rewrote this review five times because the things that are really worth noting don’t come out without spoilers. This will be a little shorter than I thought. After reading other opinions, I realized that I would not say anything new. However, unlike others, I will describe the periods of life shown in the film a little differently.
Awakening. The childhood of the main character is shown earlier. A little boy discovers the world for himself. Learning to interact with nature. They also have their first bitter experience. One of the shortest periods of the film.
Cognition. The grown-up boy learns still unknown to him feelings. The longest period of the movie. There's a setup. Around which, in the future, the whole semantic load and motives of the film will revolve.
Redemption. The most interesting period in terms of film philosophy. Here more deeply reveals the main idea that Kim Ki-duk wanted to convey to the audience. It can also be considered one of the most dramatic periods.
Revival. Here the viewer will see the rebirth of a person in spiritual terms. He will also discover the world in a new way, together with the main character. The logical conclusion of all previous periods of life, but the director has prepared something else.
Awakening. This is a small afterword, thanks to which the main idea of the film is revealed. Why was it filmed? Everything's back to normal. Life does not tolerate diversity, but goes in a spiral. It's a short time, but it makes you think.
This is one of the strongest films I have seen in my life. Then you start looking at things differently. In fact, the movie is simple. It doesn't even have names. Just two people. Just a floating hut. Just life.
- Sometimes we have to give what we love.
10 out of 10
Only by giving up the beautiful can you find peace.
Not every film is able to surprise, and not every director has the gift of simple stories to make a masterpiece of cinema. Kim is one of those few whose works are simple to genius and cannot be left indifferent. Someone will cry, get angry, smile, another will get up and go to smoke to get lost in the smoke and dispel the storm of thoughts.
This movie is for everyone. He's not an amateur. Kim’s themes are fundamental not only to people’s lives but to nature in general. Time, inevitability, good and evil. For every action there is a reaction, for every choice there are consequences. This cycle is as inevitable as death.
Emotions from watching are guaranteed. Just as there are questions in your head that you may never have asked. Whether you find the answers depends on your experience. In any case, it is a useful time spent. Perhaps Ki-Duk himself did not expect to create a real work of art. Thank you for being able to understand the nature of things better.
There are no flaws in the film. We have weaknesses.
This movie does not hit randomly sharp flashes and twisted twists of its contentful canvas, trying to attract timid connoisseurs, shock with its outrageous ordinary people: it, like soft aged wine, penetrates into the soul of the eater gradually, from the first moments of immersion in another space-time reality, spills inside with sweet honey, leaves its mark, like the imprint of eternity.
So this film of Kim Ki-Duk, already from the first frames striking and fascinating with its seemingly external unflappiness and simplicity, and at the same time visual grace of artistic means of expression of thought and ideological perfection of content, affects the viewer gradually, slowly telling his already leisurely story, by the end makes us believe in the power of the magic of true art.
After all, just closer to the end of the story, this simple story of the Buddhist monk’s relationship with his disciple and with the outside world takes on a truly universal scale, symbolizing the very life of man, full of trial, error, unrequited love, sin committed and the deepest repentance. So the main character of the film, being brought up by his teacher away from the human ecumene, as if at the end of the world, in silence and solitude, having learned the love of the girl who came to them for treatment, leaves after her from “why home”, but, having learned the dirt and viciousness of the external world, he himself commits a sin because of the betrayal of his beloved, killing her.
Further, the Korean master master masterfully played the motif of return and repentance: the fallen returns to the monastery, before passing a worldly punishment for his crime (prison), in order to be purified spiritually and find inner peace, and the teacher commits an uncompromising act of sacrificial self-immolation for the deeds of his pupil. This is what symbolizes the cyclical nature of life, the inevitability of committing cruel mistakes by a person, the very sinful essence of a person, the weakness and susceptibility of his nature to the temptations of the world: one generation of people leaves - a teacher, another - a student comes (by the end of the film, he became a teacher and took a student), and the essence of life does not change, because the new student begins to "step on the same rake", already from early childhood showing cruelty towards living beings, as his teacher did, as (it is quite possible) did his teacher ...
The actions of the film as a whole unfold only within the spiritual abode of the elderly monk and his disciple, which is a lonely pagoda floating in the same lonely and seemingly forgotten by the whole world lake surrounded by mountains. But even such a seemingly alienated place is subject to the course of time, which flows, ages a person and takes his life, gives birth to new generations, and then takes them away.
This inexorable passage of time is transmitted by the director with the help of a constant change of seasons, each of which symbolizes a certain stage of human life: human life is fleeting and miserable, and nature is eternal, it remains after our death, because after winter spring will come, and after the next winter spring will come again.
It is the stunning visual component of the film that helps the outstanding Korean filmmaker to reveal the motive of the inevitability of human fate, which, as it were, itself predicts endless suffering and suffering for a person because of his corrupt and vicious desires.
But true art would not be such if it did not give hope, a light that would illuminate the hearts of the audience, which gave them even a small bit of faith. And in this film, such a light is the spiritual revival of the hero, who, after long suffering and suffering, was able to finally find himself, find the inner harmony that he so lacked, calm his soul.
9 out of 10
Top 250 marathon. N219: Lust begets the desire to possess, and the desire to possess begets the desire to kill.
I love Korean cinema, Korea gave me a lot of favorite films and dramas, so I was looking forward to seeing the only Korean film from Top. Kim Ki-Duk, however, never interested, but here I expected just a masterpiece with a deep philosophical meaning, where every gesture is meaningful, every word is worth its weight in gold. The fact that the film was in the Top gave me hope that my expectations would be met.
The movie is very beautiful, very. These landscapes, these purple sunsets, a house in the wilderness ... I was fascinated by everything about the surrounding environment. But what about the heroes themselves?
Here, unfortunately, I am disappointed: as soon as I saw the stones on the animals, I immediately began to reject. I'm not saying that I'm from Greenpeace or I'm fighting for animal rights, but watching them suffer in the video is beyond my power. I don’t understand why spring, the beginning of life, turned out like this... both times. Is it possible to convey the idea that it is impossible to offend living beings in some other way? Why is that?
Then I was amazed by the summer. I understand, of course, that the boy had never seen a girl in his life, so he attacked her with all the fury of his youth. I immediately remembered the film “Daughter-in-law” of Kazakh production, which for some reason is appreciated in the world, although there are films much better. Well, he gave me a gag reflex. As far as I remember, I left the room and did not come back for a long time. Part of the summer made me feel almost the same way. Lust is that word, in the film it is basically called that, but it scares me that animal instincts are put first in this film. Is there no such thing as love?
Autumn stunned me with a plot twist and, like a butt on the head, hit me with an angry . And this is the disciple of the monk, who has been taught humility and forgiveness all his childhood and adolescence? I can hardly understand how he could grow up like this. And then he did not come to repentance for what he had done, it was just humility and obedience.
Winter is the only thing I liked from all times, it was for me a kind of revival. Finally, he learned his lessons, began a new life, became strong, learned to live with the stones in his heart. It is a pity, I do not know about the ritual when he climbed the mountain, but it was on the verge of human possibilities and caused respect and forgiveness of this hero.
But Again spring... And all the same. I know it's a whirlwind, but why is it such a terrible whirlpool? Is sadism what a child is born with?
I’m well aware that maybe it’s a misreading film, maybe I was early to watch it, maybe I shouldn’t have seen it at all, but at this point in time and life it’s perceived as such. And that's sadness. I was expecting something different.
“You will be punished for your anger; you will be punished for your anger.”
I will describe only the emotional impulse that arose after my first acquaintance with the director Kim Ki-duk and his film "Spring, summer, autumn, winter ... and again spring".
What you see is the embodiment of the beauty and wisdom of Eastern culture, it is a meditation film that makes you think about the eternal. In this picture immersed entirely, enjoying the picturesque landscapes of virgin nature, Eastern authenticity and centuries-old Buddhist wisdom. Here, as in Tarkovsky’s films, the main character is time, frozen in a static solitude on the water surface.
The plot of the picture is an allegory about the change of seasons, which correlate with the cycles of maturation of the main character. The prevailing symbolism lurking in detail like no one better describes what is happening. The elegiac mood of the first half of the film is replaced by passion, and then anger, which the old monk predicted.
I want to emphasize the soundtrack of the film. Stunning Korean folk singer Kim Yongyim gives a special Asian splendor to the picture, wrapping, like mantras, the action on the screen.
I recommend this spiritual film not only to true connoisseurs of the East, but also to all lovers of beautiful, clean and real cinema.
From the baby to the old man. Who will be able to?
Interesting name, high rating, awards. A very calm and unusual film, probably, we are already beginning to wean ourselves from something not Hollywood. First, the non-stop change of seasons as a direct indicator of the maturation of a younger monk and the aging of an older one. Secondly, as a comparison of spring with innocence, the beginning; summer - youth, flourishing; autumn - sin and regret for what has been done; winter - stops, slowdowns; and again spring - as resurrections and continuations of life as it is. Thirdly, that this wheel of continuous change of seasons, from year to year, could not overcome the old monk, because his story is silent film. Why is he here, what is his fate? It is not for nothing that he tests his ward with the most difficult task - a woman. Maybe he went through it once, too? On the other hand, perhaps he was able to overcome everything in a way unknown to us, because he tried to guide a true disciple and was able to commit an act of self-immolation, which is subject only to a strong spirit of people. Will his pupil be able to escape from this wheel and teach something more to a new, spring baby?
I think I am too superficial in writing and understanding, probably people close to the monks or at least South Korean viewers take more from this film to understand the mentality and way of life shown by the director.
It is interesting to show the fact of the desire for violence against animals, which resulted in future violence against humans. It turns out that the Master weakly gave him to understand that this is not good, taught a bad lesson, did not prepare it strongly, and presented the test to the young monk unbearable. Is that the lesson? As if Master had foreseen what might happen and did not resist it, is that right?
Be bent and you will remain straight. Be empty and you will remain full. Be worn out and you will remain new.
(Lao Tzu)
Wooden doors devoid of walls seem to open a surreal world, an unusual place torn from reality. Surrounded by a forest, a lake with a hut drifting on its surface is such an immense and cozy refuge for those who have renounced worldly life. In this serene and deaf land live a mature monk and his young pupil, who exist in harmony with each other and with nature. But the boy grows up and constantly discovers new things - he tends to err, tie a stone to animals or succumb to the temptation of a woman's body to learn to live truly and, with the help of a mentor, appreciate things that previously seemed insignificant. Contrary to his efforts, the sage cannot prevent future events, just as no one can reverse the change of seasons. So pass spring, summer, autumn, winter ... and again comes spring.
Kim Ki-duk’s Buddhist worldviews, most vividly shown in The Island, reach perfection in this peaceful picture, both in terms of visual aesthetics and philosophical subtext. There is more meditative and little habitual violence, although heroes cannot escape the circle of suffering and passions. As long as there is a small boat as a guide to ordinary corrupt realities, harmony is not eternal, and mistakes are inevitable, hence the karma inherent in Buddhism, when a person is paid what he deserves. They either change, or they change, and they take the path they once learned. Love is a medicine you must be able to give up, but you must try it first. This has always been the case and will always be the case. This cycle is unstoppable, as is the course of life, childhood mischief, youth-recklessness, maturity-rethinking, old age-wisdom, allegorically taken for the seasons with which man himself is transformed.
With cyclicity comes humility, but it is associated with difficulties, whether it is carving on the platform of the Buddhist sutra or binding to the body of a heavy stone with which you have to climb the mountain. Torture as the only way of purification from transgressions and the other world, the stone is a symbol of the lack of simplicity of being, the mountain is life. Climbing it is not easy, but you can find catharsis at the top. From there everything seems completely different: more distinct and clear. Doors without walls lurk out of sight somewhere in the distance, and the lake is so small and so lonely. This incorruptible part of nature blooms and breathes green-gold and orange-white colors. You can go astray and find salvation. In it you can experience torture and harmoniously dissolve. You can be born and die in it.
She'll always outlive everyone. And they will be reborn.
From the first shots of Kim Ki-duk’s Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter... and Spring Again, you realize that something grand is waiting for you when the gates in front of the water house open like a curtain in the theater where the Buddhist monk and his young disciple live. They lead a leisurely lifestyle, collect herbs, sort them and prepare drugs.
The action of the picture takes place in an untouched corner of the nature of South Korea, in modern times at the time of filming.
One day, while walking in the forest, the student decided to play, and tied stones to a fish, a frog and a snake, the teacher watched what was happening, but did not intervene.
By nightfall, he had done the same thing that the boy had done: he had tied a stone to his back. In the morning, he told him to untie all the animals, otherwise “this stone will remain in his heart for the rest of his life.” And the whole film, like an Eastern parable, teaches something to the hero, and us. Starting to associate the main character with yourself, you remember your childhood mistakes, and you are more involved in the story of what is happening on the screen.
Spring turns into summer. The main character, having grown up, begins to appreciate nature and live with it in harmony, until a sick girl is brought to the monastery for her treatment. Seeing the girl for the first time, he has a desire to be with her, and after a series of times, awkward situations, they are together. The girl is recovering, and it is time for her to leave the monastery, the young monk goes after her, not listening to the teacher's warning that "lust begets murder." After the summer, in autumn, having grown up again, the hero begins the path of suffering, redemption and finally humility. Winter is coming...
Buddhism in the film is clearly emphasized by the images of rebirths, constant guests of the monastery in the guise of animals and the rituals of monks. He interprets that everything in life must be paid for, “for the bad, and for the good”, you must always follow the planned path, even if everything repeats itself.
The director, Kim Ki-duk, took the production of the film very seriously, filling each frame with the philosophy and symbolism of the East. He tells us from the screen: “Nature is not subject to man, and everything in it is cyclical, as in life.” The well-designed script emphasizes all his beliefs, and turns this tape from a dry production into a masterpiece.
Each scene is honed by the magnificent work of the artist, cameraman and composer, so that the harmony of what is happening does not allow distraction for a second, turning the show into a moment that you want to repeat.
After viewing, only positive emotions, conscious thoughts and the desire to recommend it for viewing remain. The film will be instructive for all persons, carry meaning, and perhaps understanding and awareness of the essence of being.
I’ve been looking for this movie for a long time, because I watched it when I was a teenager and I didn’t have any Internet. I didn’t understand it, or rather I didn’t see the depth. From those memories crashed indescribable beauty of nature and its serenity. I watched it just a couple of hours ago and opened the film for myself in a new way, which will now be discussed.
I will say right away that I think many have experienced everything that the main character of the picture, I hope, except for one particular act. Although the price of life is known, the price of this information is too high. This is what makes us human, because how is man different from an animal other than the ability to speak? In addition to our survival needs, there are many others. As the hermit said, lust arouses the desire to possess, and the desire to possess arouses the desire to kill. How many other feelings are there that arouse other desires? The hermit knew all this perfectly well and he was held in our world only by the mortal shell and the disciple to whom he did not ask all the questions. Questions, not answers. After all, he never stopped the student in his knowledge of the world, albeit in places of error. Everyone has their own path and everyone has to go their own way. He stopped only when the student gave up and did not want to answer for what he had done. You can think about this for a long time, why so? The film is beautiful precisely because it leaves more questions than answers and everyone will always see everything in their own way and in their own colors. The student has grown up and will now answer all the questions that the teacher left him, but this is a completely different story that one can only imagine. More movies like that.