re:mote voices

Title: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, and Spring Again [Bom Yeoreum Gaeul Gyeoul Geurigo Bom]
Cast: Yeong-su Oh, Ki-duk Kim, Young-min Kim, Jae-kyeong Seo, Yeo-jin Ha, Jong-ho Kim
Director: Ki-duk Kim

This is one of those sparse oriental films, slow moving and lacking in dialogue, which can either drive you crazy or draw you inwards. Part of the feeling of the film comes from all being in one setting, a Buddhist temple in the middle of a remote lake, and the shoreline around it. The story follows the live of a novice monk, split into the seasons, which mark the changes through his life – a manner which reminded to some degree of the style used in Requiem For A Dream, though here there is a spring to look forward to after the bleakness of winter.

While watching the film, I was struck by the idea that there was a similarity to Star Wars, in a really stripped down, raw sense. At the core of the film we have the old monk and the young monk, and despite the wise one’s best attempts the youngster is constantly prone to the dark side. In spring we see a child gaining amusement from the torment of animals, while summer brings the border between child and adult, and with that the first impressions of lust, and autumn brings truth to the old man’s prophetic statement of what lust leads to. With this the young monk doesn’t really endear himself to the audience, which kind of puts us in a curious position.

The cast is pretty limited, the old man aging from scene to scene, while the younger leaps forward in years. With that there are at most another two characters in any one chapter, acting as catalysts to the lives of the monks. So that the whole forms a circle, filled with symbolism, which is evident, even if it’s meaning is not. One of the easiest symbols perhaps is that of the door, and of it opening – the temple is split in three, two sleeping chambers, and the body of the hall, there are no internal walls, though there are doors, which the characters make a point of using, even though they could bypass them; additionally there are a pair of doors at the end of the pier, which again seem more symbolic than practical. Another clear symbol is the fact that each of the chapters features an animal properly, though the meaning of these seems perhaps a little more obscure – the first spring is a dog, with summer providing a rooster, followed by autumn’s white cat, winter’s serpent is perhaps the most blatant of the group (though with reflection the cock perhaps also becomes evident), returning to spring and a tortoise.

The negatives of the film are the way the audience can feel about the characters, particularly where there is a display of cruelty towards animals. The sparseness is something which is bound to annoy some, and is a technique which can be very hit and miss, leading to a success being more dependant on mood. On the other hand the scenery and the visuals are the real strengths of the film, the scene where it looks like the temple is shifting position in the centre of the lake being a particularly effective moment. The fact that the film unrolls with little reliance on dialogue also works for me, speaking through its actions, with the verbal interaction being a secondary.