Kim Ki-duk's work has always been known for its deep and obscure plots, alternative and even bizarre love affairs. But it is undeniable that director Kim Ki-duk's works are very good, representative works include "Empty Room", "Moubis", "Holy Death", etc., his works are slightly dark oil painting style, which looks depressing and depressed. His directed work also never shys away from nudity and does not mind scale. Today, I would like to talk to you about this work that I personally believe is Kim Ki-duk's best work - "Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring"
01 spring
The young monk practiced with the old monk in the ancient temple in the deep mountains, and there was not much entertainment and fun in the mountains.
The little monk went to the stream and tied the fish, frogs, and snakes with ropes, and laughed when he saw that the fish, frogs, and snakes could not break free.
At night, the old monk tied a stone to the little monk and asked him to carry the stone to the stream to save the little creature he had tied with a rope. But when he reached the stream, he found that the bound creatures were already dead, and the little monk cried out.
The little monk's every move the old monk was paying attention to, he knew it, but he did not stop it at the first time. Instead, it is necessary to wait for the little monk to do something wrong afterwards before punishing and teaching him.
Here the little monk represents the desire of nature, and the practice of the old monk is abstinence, and the desire to have fun only for oneself is turned into evil because of disregard for the lives of innocent beings.
But after all, it is a child, and there is still a natural goodness in his bones, so he will see the beings who die because of his faults crying bitterly.
The old monk here symbolizes pure Buddha-nature, and the Buddhist saying is: Put down the butcher's knife and become a Buddha on the ground. It is here that the little monk can make mistakes and become evil, but he must have the Buddha-nature of knowing mistakes and correcting mistakes and becoming good, so the old monk forgave him.
02 Summer
There is no nail in the mountains, and the cold and heat do not know the year. The boring practice in the mountains and the dense environment around them make it easy to forget the time. It seems that growing up is only a matter of moments.
The young monk had never seen the world of flowers and flowers outside, and he had also seen two snakes intercourse in the mountains.
On this day, there came a beautiful girl who was recuperating from illness,
The appearance of the maiden made ripples in the heart lake of the little monk, who was already calm enough.
The beautiful flesh of the young girl attracted the little monk all the time, and finally, the little monk and the girl stole the forbidden fruit.
When the old monk found out, he sent the sick girl away, but the little monk who had tasted the human affair for the first time knew the taste of marrow. Secretly left the temple at night, and also took the only Buddha statue in the temple.
The film shows the snake many times, and in the Bible Satan becomes a snake to tempt Adam and Eve to steal the forbidden fruit, and the snake is also a symbol of sex and cruelty in the West. In this film, Kim Ki-duk uses snakes to metaphorically refer to the desires of the little monk, implying that the little monk will break the vows.
The little monk knew that he had done something wrong and took away the Buddha statue, because of the guilt in his heart. After practicing with the old monk for so many years, the temptation to spend a few months with the girl made him break his vows. He chose to leave the temple, leaving the old monk who forgave himself. So he took the buddha statue and asked for forgiveness.
03 Autumn
It was many years again, and the little monk who escaped from the temple had become a teenager. He killed his wife because she cheated on her, and returned to the temple with nowhere to escape.
He became grumpy and fierce, and the old monk asked him to carve Buddhist scriptures on the wooden floor to remove karmic obstacles. When he carved the words of the Sutra with a dagger that was still stained with blood, he became quiet and peaceful. It wasn't until the next day that the police came and arrested him.
Only then did the little monk realize that all beings outside the temple were suffering. Was he really happy to escape from the temple in a desperate way? Happiness may be possible, but more than that, it will only be bitterness.
The girl who had once been thinking of her heart made him unable to tell whether he should listen to the desire in his heart or come from the old monk's cultivation of Buddhism and goodness. Now he had a little understanding, but he still couldn't see the flowers in the fog.
The snake crawls on the buddhist scriptures carved by the little monk, which means that the little monk is falling into a deep self-doubt.
04 Winter
The little monk was released from prison, and he was middle-aged. Back at the temple, the master had passed away. The original lake around the temple was frozen.
He took out from his master's silent ship and burned the remaining relics. Alone in the temple, practicing.
One day, a woman wearing a mask came to the temple with her child in her arms. Kneeling in front of the Buddha statue and weeping bitterly, the little monk looked at her very much like the girl of that year.
He wanted to lift the woman's mask to see who he was, and then the snake appeared again. And now it's winter,
It shows that the desire in his heart is stirring.
The woman asked him to adopt the child in his arms, and he also wanted to see the true face of the woman. The woman fled in a hurry, not wanting to fall into the ice cave and die.
The little monk, holding the child, finally realized, he sank the old Buddha statue, which symbolized forgiveness, to the bottom of the lake, and carved a new Buddha statue out of stone.
This time, it was no longer the old monk or the Buddha statue that forgave him. It's the Buddha, it's Himself. He has let go of all the worldly karmic obstacles and become a Buddha.
In the blink of an eye, it was another spring of the year, and a little monk in the temple was doing what the little monk who is now an old monk had done...
05 Reincarnation
The structure of the film is simple, unfolding slowly in the order of the four seasons. The filming is beautiful, and the whole movie is like a beautiful painting.
All the scenes have been around this temple in the lake, and everything has been around this lake temple.
There is no explicit description of good and evil in the film, but we can see the suffering of sentient beings in the cycle of each season.
The little monk's first evil of killing fish, frogs, and snakes, to the evil of killing his wife, to the evil of killing the masked woman.
All this is because the little monk still has snakes in his heart, so there are shots of snakes in spring, summer, autumn and winter.
The Buddha's saying has clouds: Life in the world is like being in the midst of thorns, the heart is not moving, people do not move, and if they do not move, they are not hurt; if the heart moves, people move, hurt their bodies and their bones, so they experience all kinds of pain in the world.
People who are moved will be delusional, and as long as their hearts do not move, they can avoid many sufferings in the world.
The little monk finally understood this truth, but it was not too late. If he does something wrong, he will feel guilty in his heart, and this is his punishment. His evil will be made up for with the rest of his life.
He adopted the child, and the child repeated the evil he had done before. What will he choose? The film does not give an answer, and it also leaves us with more room for imagination.
But this is the reality, all sentient beings, and everyone has an answer to everyone's problem.
Some do good and some do evil. Everyone has every choice, and every choice has the cause and effect of each choice.
Hopefully, we can keep our hearts, but do good deeds, and good luck comes!