Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (2003)
Entirely set on and around a tree-lined lake where a tiny Buddhist monastery floats on a raft amidst a breath-taking landscape, this film is divided into five segments with each season representing a stage in a man's life. (Sony Pictures Classics)
Cast and Information
Directed By: Ki-duk Kim
Written By: Ki-duk Kim
Starring: Ki-duk Kim, Dae-han Ji, Young-min Kim, Ji-a Park, Jung-young Kim, Yeong-su Oh, Jae-kyeong Seo, Jong-ho Kim, Yeo-jin Ha
Genre: Drama
AKA: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter... and Spring
Country: Germany, South Korea
Where to Stream
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Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring belongs to 64 collections
1. IMDB Top 250 (collaborative: moderated by ppinocchio - 122 stars)
2. Roger Ebert: Great Movies (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 80 stars)
3. The Guardian's 1000 films to see before you die (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 30 stars)
4. IMDb Top 250 Complete (collaborative: moderated by Jorg - 23 stars)
5. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2017 revision) (collaborative: moderated by iconogassed - 22 stars)
6. Humanity and the Natural World (collaborative: moderated by paulofilmo - 18 stars)
7. Best of criticker: Drama (collaborative: moderated by avgcrtckr - 18 stars)
8. Non-verbal (collaborative: moderated by djross - 16 stars)
9. Doubling The Canon (collaborative - 13 stars)
10. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2020 revision) (public: djross - 13 stars)
11. 16 Strangest Movies Everyone Should See - tasteofcinema.com (collaborative: moderated by neurophate - 10 stars)
12. Fantastic and surreal (public: juandr - 9 stars)
13. Religion (collaborative: moderated by Pickpocket - 8 stars)
14. Skandies (collaborative: moderated by toro913 - 7 stars)
15. List: Taschen (collaborative: moderated by KasperL - 6 stars)
16. Director/star combination (collaborative: moderated by djross - 5 stars)
17. One-Location Films (collaborative: moderated by TV+Film-Hub - 5 stars)
18. The AV Club Best Films of the '00s (public: TychoCelchuu - 5 stars)
19. Top 3000 movies with the most votes on IMDb (public: fanfic - 5 stars)
20. Films divided into chapters (collaborative: moderated by djross - 4 stars)
21. The Auteurs World Cup (collaborative - 4 stars)
22. Little to no plot (collaborative: moderated by juandr - 3 stars)
23. Sarsanlar (public: Ozancan - 3 stars)
24. MovieMeter.nl Top 250 (collaborative: moderated by Jorg - 2 stars)
25. Buddhism (collaborative: moderated by Ag0stoMesmer - 2 stars)
26. Foreign - Korean (public: NhanLa - 2 stars)
27. Animal killing (collaborative: moderated by iconogassed - 1 star)
28. Doubling the Canon (2011 update) (collaborative: moderated by MMAlpha - 1 star)
29. Buddhist Movies (collaborative: moderated by Qumefox - 1 star)
30. Cats (collaborative: moderated by Svengali - 1 star)
31. Tom & Bitches' Infinite Watchlist (collaborative - 1 star)
32. Doubling the Canon (2012 update) (collaborative: moderated by Cinephile - 1 star)
33. film puanlamalarım (collaborative - 1 star)
34. BBC's The 21st Century's 100 Greatest Films (collaborative: moderated by jeff_h - 1 star)
35. Blue Dragon Film Awards: Best Film (collaborative: moderated by iceblox - 1 star)
36. 100 Greatest Korean Films Ever by Korean Screen (collaborative: moderated by Equanimity - 1 star)
37. gork movies to get (public: gork - 1 star)
38. IMDb Top 250 (2 years) (public: sianaa - 1 star)
39. Ölmeden Önce İzlenesi (public: Ozancan - 1 star)
40. Göz Nuru (public: Ozancan - 1 star)
41. Tekrar Tekrar İzlenesi (public: Ozancan - 1 star)
42. The Greatest Movies of All Time - Filmweb's Alternative Top 500 (public: Hadleyreis - 1 star)
43. "Seasons: Spring" (collaborative)
44. Great Films of the New Millenium (collaborative: moderated by PerryStroika)
45. import (collaborative: moderated by fellasleep)
46. Best of criticker: 2003 (collaborative: moderated by avgcrtckr)
47. Buddhist themes (collaborative: moderated by gogolit)
48. Subset Wishlist (collaborative: moderated by altelumi)
49. watching 2015 (collaborative: moderated by max805)
50. TSPDT 2017 new additions (collaborative: moderated by avgcrtckr)
51. TSPDT Top 150 Most Acclaimed Films of the 21st Century (2017) (collaborative: moderated by arrow-s)
52. Features on religious themes (collaborative: moderated by PerryStroika)
53. iCMForum’s Favourite Movie From Every County (collaborative: moderated by zzzorf)
54. Sundance 2004 (public: citrusboy)
55. NOG TE ZIEN (public: lockstock)
56. 2003: Year in Review (public: polanski28)
57. Filmspotting Ratings Project: Week 19 (public: PeaceAnarchy)
58. Movies to See: Drama (public: Lord Moe)
59. Movies I Own (public: Farzan)
60. Asia/Pacific Top 100 (public: Sleepy Dogs)
61. Korea (public: kendell)
62. seen (public: gamzeknc)
63. 90+ (public: Daria)
64. Knoroz watchlist (public: knoroz)
Browse the full list of collections
| Stars | User | Rating | |
| 6 |  |
KasperL | 55 39th |
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I get it. The seasons represent stages of life. The setting is beautiful, the symbolism palpable. But Ki-duk's film never went beyond the cycle of life comparison, never transcended obvious parable into meaningfulness. Or maybe, quite possibly, I just didn't get it after all. I'm not going to rewatch it, though, that's for sure.
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| 5 |  |
Boobjuice | 100 98th |
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This is one of those rare films that manages to be hypnotic instead of boring in its slow and deliberate pace. The scenery is beautiful, as is the story.
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| 3 |  |
Shmendrek | 5 96th |
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Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring is a quiet meditation on the cycle of life. The film is beautifully shot, hypnotically paced, and the dialog is minimal. If I had to pick a film to explain Buddhism to someone who is unfamiliar with its most basic truths, this would be it.
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| 2 |  |
MartinTeller | 68 32nd |
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For the first half, I felt like "wow, I love this movie!" It was a peaceful, remarkably beautiful meditation along the same lines as Anh Hung Tran's films. Then it takes this turn and goes gradually downhill from there. The "Winter" section has a scene which echoes back to the "Spring" section in the most obvious way, but as if that weren't enough, it actually flashes back to the earlier scene, just to make sure you get the parallel. What a letdown.
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| 2 | CatScandal | 53 25th |
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Yes, this is a beautiful film. The setting is amazing, and strikingly photographed. Unfortunately, it is morally one of the most simplistic and flawed films I've ever seen. I can't fathom all of the acclaim that this film gets when it expends so much effort expressing themes which essentially boil down to eye-for-eye retribution and complete suppression of all human desires. Kim Ki-duk has brilliant composition, but he needs to pursue projects with a less narrowminded morality.
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| 2 | lonelypanda | 80 95th |
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For the Buddha lovers.
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| 2 |  |
Cinema_Asia | 80 84th |
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The movie is a meditation on life, the flaws of humanity, and serene self reflection. There is no great revealing plot or dramatic point to this film. It's more or less a reflection of humanity and the spirituality of Buddhism intertwined with our own human nature. Misses the mark from greatness simply because there were still a few points made in the film that were awkwardly conceived. Still excellent and well worth your time.
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| 1 |  |
Kavu | 89 92nd |
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Only Ki-Duk can create this kind of beauty. Every scene is filled with symbolism and every one of the few lines of dialogue is well thought through.
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| 1 |  |
martryn | 95 97th |
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Wow. I get it. Just thinking about this film sends me into deep contemplation. I've looked up some of the Buddhist imagery that is incorporated in the movie, too, and it's fantastic how they've handled it. It's fantastically thought-provoking and visually stunning.
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| 1 |  |
JooJoo | 4 55th |
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More boredom from Ki-duk Kim that looks very pretty. A little unnecessarily harsh, but I cannot get over how this director just constantly misses the mark for me.
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| 1 |  |
TheDeek | 91 96th |
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One of my favourite kim ki duk movies for sure. He really is unlike any other.
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| 1 |  |
redacted | 94 96th |
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Low tempo, tranquil, calming, very eastern and very Buddhist. This movie isn't about the acting or the dialogue, it's about the scenery and the raw human interaction with and within it. This film exists in stark contrast with nothing else except the way we live our lives.
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| 1 |  |
Rufam | 55 21st |
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I don't mind slow pace and minimal dialogue in itself. What I do mind is predictability, contrivance, tacky symbolism and distracting religious overtones, all of which the film had in spades. Fortunately, it wasn't a total letdown, since there was plenty of stunning imagery as well as some interesting scenes mostly in the first half. But, frankly, I couldn't care less about the inane observations on the cycle of life or the 'up with nature' message or the Tarkovsky-lite excursions in the end.
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| 1 |  |
randori | 70 54th |
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budizm vs maddi dunya. yonetmen hayatin dongusu-reenkarnasyon ile masalsi tadda ve oldukca dingin bir sekilde cekmis filmi ama bir konuya sahip olmaktan ziyade budizmin felsefesine odaklanmis olmasi dinsel bir mit, ibretlik bir hikaye tadi yaratmiyor da degil. dunyayi yonetenlerin veya modern insanin hic bitmek bilmeyen bir bahar mevsimindeymis gibi davrandiklarini, olgunlasmayan-kulturel birikimden faydalanmayan tarzini dusunduren bir bakis da cikarilabilir zorlanirsa.
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| 1 |  |
Red_Falcon_ | 80 87th |
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A beautiful meditative reflection on the cycles of life.While light on dialogue this film says more with the cinematography and music then most movies say with twice the dialogue.
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| 1 |  |
vahidtr | 72 64th |
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the episode "spring" was shocking enough and it's very incredible for the beginning of a movie and for us to be interested in the child's destiny . the idea about the cycle of life was great . although the last 20-30 minutes of the movie was somehow boring . the cinematography and the music was fantastic .
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| 1 |  |
afx237vi | 60 52nd |
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A beautiful setting and some striking imagery, but broad and simplistic in its exploration of the human condition. The middle chapters are particularly overwrought and detract somewhat from the peace and tranquility of the rest of the film (although I understand that was probably the point). I don't regret watching it, because it is visually rewarding, but I can't say I connected with it on any kind of emotional level.
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| 1 | Zeboim | 1 13th |
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Animal cruelty warning (stone in fish's mouth, tying a frog and a snake to a stone, leaving all to die) . The arrogance of this director for thinking this air-filled illusion of profundity warranted such treatment (not that any movie does) boggles the mind.
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| 1 |  |
le mami | 25 17th |
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buddhist propaganda and the sybolism.. hard to watch
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| 1 |  |
radumsmn | 85 96th |
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I mean this is basically Buddhism 101, but as I write this Kim Ki-duk is dead of COVID-19 in effing Latvia out of all places. Can a human be an incredible artist, an abuser and devout believer at the same time? As this movie shows, Samsara is upon us as long as the Dharma is not followed and we will most likely be reborn in lower states of consciousness until we forget anything. Yeah, the cycle will never end. Or will it?
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| Average Percentile 71.75% from 2827 Ratings |  |