Spring Summer Fall Winter...and Spring

As the title of this Korean film denotes, it is about the continuance of life and also about how cyclical it is.  Stories are told for each season and involve the inhabitants of a monastery floating on a mountainside lake, not much bigger than my living room.

In the first segment, Spring, an old monk and young boy live a simple life. They row to land and the boy picks herbs. Another day, he ties rocks to small animals and gleefully watches them struggle to navigate. When the monk sees this, he punishes the boy in a non-traditional (at least by Western standards) but meaningful way, ultimately to teach him a lesson and not as true punishment.

In Summer, several years later, the boy is now a young man. He escorts a woman and her sickly daughter to the monastery, where the monk nurses her back to health. But, being a randy youth, he and the girl do what young people do and the monk acknowledges that nature has taken its course. When the girl, now healthy, leaves, the young monk does so too.

In Fall, again several years later, the old monk sees a tragic newspaper story about the young man, now 30 years old, and knowingly expects him to return. The young man does so, and has to face his demons and future when some policemen chase him down. The old monk once again tries to help guide him and turn him toward the right path. When the young man leaves, the old monk realizes that he too must face his own final lifepath.

In Winter, a new monk arrives, walking across the iced over lake to get to the monastery. A despondent woman comes with a baby, intending to leave it there.

In Spring again, several years later, the baby is now a young boy (I think it's even the same actor), and the circle of life continues.


A beautiful, well-made film, simple yet deep. It probably would be more meaningful if you knew more about Buddhism and its rituals, but as a Western viewer I could still get some of the meaning (for instance, the theme about carrying one's own burdens is throughout). The only thng bad about it was the animatronic baby they had to use in one scene, no doubt for the safety of the real baby. There's not a lot of dialogue; Fall is the only segment where there is much of a conversation. In Winter the film spent six minutes showing the new monk stuggle to get up a hill but this scene was not dull or boring.