Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring.

Actually, the title should be Spring…, Summer…, Fall…, Winter…… and Spring. The extra periods are added to warn viewers how long each season takes. Although the cinematography is absolutely beautiful, what you see from the trailer is what you pretty much get in the film. It’s the same place throughout the featured and only the season changes. Wish I liked the film but I couldn’t keep up by the time fall arrived.

What bother me the most about the film are the missing subtitles. They only come up about once every forth line. I guess the other three lines aren’t important so they don’t show the subtitles for those. They probably did that on purpose so that viewers can focus more on the aesthetic qualities; however, the paste is quite slow and there isn’t that many lines to get distracted from the beautiful shots.

Although the film is quite slow, there are some great moments come through nicely. I am not going to spoil it for those still want to see it. One of the themes the film plays on is nature. Obviously the beauty of nature is showcased throughout the featured but the deeper focus is on human nature. Sex, love, lust, angry, and jealousy are part of human nature. If we can’t control our human nature, one thing leads to another will get us deeper into sin. Even a monk commits murder if he can’t control himself. This is probably one of the Buddhist philosophies that the director, Kim Ki-duk, wants to get across.

What intrigues me the most about the film is the wall-less temple. There is a gate to the temple but there are no fences surrounding it. There are doors in the temple to separate the bedroom from the worship room but there are no walls between them. Is this a Buddhist indication of openness and acceptant? If you have any thought on this, I would love to hear it.