Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... And Spring

A tiny Buddhist monastery floats on a raft amidst a breathtaking landscape, tended to by a solitaryMonk. Into this serene setting comes a young child, who will become the Old Monk's protege... and so begins a lifelong journey of hope, despair, passion and redemption in a film hailed as "A triumphof sheer cinematic craft," (Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald). Working miracles with only a single set and a handful of characters, Korean director Kim Ki-Duk creates a wise little gem of a movie. As the title suggests, the action takes place in five distinct episodes, but sometimes many years separate the seasons. The setting is a floating monastery in a pristine mountain lake, where an elderly monk teaches a boy the lessons of life--although when the boy grows to manhood, he inevitably must learn a few hard lessons for himself. By the time the story reaches its final sections, you realize you have witnessed the arc of existence--not one person's life, but everyone's. It's as enchanting as a Buddhist fable, but it's not precious; Kim consistently surprises you with a sex scene or an explosion of black comedy; he also vividly acts in the Winter segment, when the lake around the monastery eerily freezes.