Kim Ki-Duk's "Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter ... and Spring"is the kind of film that Terrence Malick should be making right now but isn't. This Korean picture is as visually ravishing and as poetical as anything Malick might have made but whereas Malick's films have tended to become cold, rambling affairs this is a movie with a great deal of respect and affection for its characters.
Virtually plotless in the conventional sense, the film takes a philosophical view of life from the perspective of a Buddhist monk and a boy who live on a tiny floating island in the middle of a lake. The boy grows up and older as each season passes, (and is played by different actors), and each season represents a different tale or rather a variation of the same tale. You could say not a great deal happens. There is little dialogue; we see, rather than hear, the events that make up the days, months and years of his life. It's a slow-burner of a film but it holds you, often with a good deal of humour until finally it turns into a thriller of sorts, (there is a murder, a suicide and an accidental death by drowning but all are dealt with in a most unconventional way). It also marks a very welcome change from the ultra-violent thrillers that have mostly been coming our way from Korea in recent years.
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