Spring, Summer, Autumn,
Winter . . . and Spring (15)

Director: Kim Ki-duk
Starring: Oh Yeong-su, Kim Ki-duk, Kim Young-min
South Korea/Germany, 2003, 1 hour 43 minutes, subtitles

In a magnificent mountain landscape a monk lives with a young orphan in the middle of an idyllic lake. In the opening section the old monk teaches that the boy’s thoughtless cruelty to the wildlife does him spiritual harm. Time moves on. In the second section the boy has become a teenager and inevitably lusts after a young girl who comes for treatment. How this then plays out occupies the rest of this gently moving, hauntingly beautiful film - the changing colours and moods of the season are exquisitely captured. Equally rare is the film’s spiritual depth and its optimistic faith in man’s capacity for good as well as evil.

“A charming and rewarding film . . . delightful, meditative . . . serene and gripping” Guardian

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