Release date in South Korea : 2003/09/19
Genre : Chronicle Drama
Duration : 106min
Director : Kim Ki-duk
Cast : Oh Yeong-soo, Seo Jae-kyeong, Kim Yeong-min, Kim Ki-duk, Ji Dae-han, Choi Min
Brief Synopsis :
Spring - Child Monk takes life of animals out of innocence: A child monk ties a stone to a back of fish. Same plight awaits a frog and a snake. The child monk roams the brook in search of the fish and the frog as his punishment allotted by the old monk.
Summer - Boy Monk in love learns obsession : The monk is now 17 years old. To the lonely hermitage, a girl comes to convalesce. Before long, warm feelings towards the girl sprouts in the boy's heart. Their ripple in the water turns into an act of love.
Fall - Young Monk in agony of malice: The boy returns to the hermitage in the mountains as a young man in his thirties after committing a murder. The old monk whips him finding the young man attempting suicide in front of the statue of Buddha. Old monk order him to etch the Pranja-parpamitasutra, meanwhile he finds peace in his heart.
Winter - Mature Monk in days of enlightenment : The monk, now in his full maturity retraces his steps to the abandoned hermitage in the mountains. A woman wearing a veil visits the hermitage with a baby. She leaves her baby behind and runs away.
And then spring - Another child monk : cycle of four seasons. The old monk living with another child monk is having a peaceful time in the hermitage...the circle of life keeps on.
Source http://www.koreanfilm.or.kr
