Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #57250 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-09-07
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: AC-3, Colour, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: Korean
• Subtitled in: English, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 103 minutes

Customer Reviews

Beautiful... Simply beautiful.
I can't stress just how wonderfully picturesque this film is. The amazing visuals of nature draw you in, and you can't help but feel consumed by their draw-dropping beauty. This hit me immediately, and it only gets better. On a floating buddhist temple resides a monk, and his young apprentice. It floats on a lake, surrounded by forests. We watch through the seasons how the young apprentice changes, as the scenery does the same.

It uses each season as a leap in years, and shows the significant events in his life. The film relies on its visuals rather than tons of dialogue. Not to sound corny here, but sometimes it's the things that aren't said that make the most impact. The poignant beauty of it all will leave a lasting impression, I guarantee. Don't confuse this with being a pretty film with no substance. This is deeper than most films out there, and you feel like you've come away with something. Let's put it this way: I've referred to it as beautiful four times, unintentionally too. That's got to be saying something. I could easily sum it up in just that one word!

simply beautiful
This film is a breath of fresh Korean air. Shot almost entirely in a floating temple on a lake and its surrounding picture postcard scenery this is not just wonderful cinamatography but a profoundly touching story of the sadness and beauty of solitude. The karma and learning from mistakes. Gentle, harsh, unusual. Very little dialogue, no need for more...
I wanted to buy a couple of copies of this dvd to send friends but was disappointed to find them only on the u.s . format which many people here don't have.

Slow but very mesmerizing.......,
The movie is very slow and very deliberate. The team of cinematographer, Dong-hyeon Baek, and director, Ki-duk Kim, use stunning imagery to tell their version of the circle of life.

The strength of the movie lies in its ability to tell a tale with imagery instead of dialog. If you're one to get antsy in a Kubrick film due to his long drawn out shots, you likely will hate this movie. However, if you have patience and appreciate a director who doesn't seem to think the movie masses suffer from ADD, you'll appreciate the time the director gives you to reflect on the beauty of the story's natural settings.

The actors perform well. The door that opens at the beginning of each one of the five seasons could be interpreted as a gate, linking the two worlds: our world and their world. To go-in and go-out in the idyllic space where the hermitage floats every people must go through this gate. In fact the film is a very simple allegory about the cyclic evolving life. The beginning and the final of the film encloses a cycle. Kim takes the characters in a more mature direction than many of the other tales, and does it with a better eye than most. The hut in which the central characters reside is located in the middle of a woody mountain lake. The lake and the surrounding woods play as important characters as the actors. The changes in the lake and the land through the seasons reflect the changes within the boy monk.

If you have the patience to meditate on the wondrous imagery of Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring, check it out. If you like foreign films but can't stand reading the subtitles, check it out (not a lot of dialog in this one).