![]() Doorways are representative not only of change, but of respected restrictions. Man's additions - the gates, boat and statues, are all symbolic bridges to harmony between man and nature. Kim Ki-duk binds humankind to nature in a far more spiritual way than in his challenging "The Isle." Kim and his cinematographer Dong-hyeon Baek (Kim Ki-duk's "Coast Guard") highlight the beauty of even potentially dangerous creatures, like the snake, giving it its place in the world along with the dog, rooster and cat which reside on the floating temple during different seasons. The adult monk repeats his childhood penance on a grander scale for his greater sin. Much older now, the younger monk (director Kim Ki-duk) returns to his childhood home in the midst of winter and a woman (Ji-a Park), her head wrapped in a purple scarf, leaves her young baby boy (Jong-ho Kim) to repeat the cycle. The old monk takes his protegee's earlier penance upon himself then turns his rowboat into a funeral pyre. When two detectives arrive (Dae-han Ji and Min Choi), they allow the young man to continue carving the master's painted Pranjaparpamita sutras before taking him into custody. The now adult monk (Young-min Kim), on the run, returns to his master, who sets him on a ritual to free his anger. ![]() He sighs heavily when he spies an article confirming his prophecy. Autumn finds the master considerably older, returning to his floating home with a white cat and provisions wrapped in newspaper. The young man steals away, nonetheless, the temple's Buddha stored in his back pack. ![]() The old monk advises the younger that lust inspires possessiveness which in turn leads to murder. When the old monk declares the girl cured after finding her asleep with the young monk in their boat, she is sent back to her mother. Proximity of the two young people has the expected, foreshadowed results. The two men's solitude is broken when a woman (Jung-young Kim) brings her daughter (Yeo-jin Ha) to the monks to recover from a mysterious illness. ![]() The boy has become a young man (Seo Jae-kyung), first seen observing mating snakes entwined. Once again the gates swing open to reveal Jusan Pond in summer. The next morning the monk tells the young monk that he will not be freed until he frees the creatures he's caused to suffer and that if any of them have perished, the stone will weigh upon his heart forever. When the master sees his giggling charge tying stones to a fish, a frog and a snake, he turns the tables on the boy, tying a heavy stone to the child as he sleeps. There an old monk (Young-soo Oh) is tutoring a young boy (Jae-kkyeong Seo) in the philosophy of Buddhism. The film begins theatrically, as the wooden doors of a dock gate swing open to reveal Kim's setting, a lake (actually a man-made pond from the eighteenth century) containing a floating Buddhist temple. This stunningly poetic movie posits that even though humans begin life as base creatures and commit terrible sins, enlightenment and harmony can be achieved. and Spring." Laura: As in his 2000 breakthrough, "The Isle," Kim contains his filmic landscape within a lake with floating residences, but to entirely different effect. Writer/director Kim Ki-duk ("The Isle") uses the seasons as a metaphor for man's life while presenting Buddhist teachings and concepts of rebirth and nirvana in Korea's 2003 submission for the Foreign Language Oscar, "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |