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By Brooke Holgerson
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Each of the seasons in Kim Ki-duk’s serenely beautiful new film tells part of the story of a Buddhist monk and his pupil as the latter develops from a playfully malevolent young boy into a love-struck teen in a summer romance, then a fugitive from the police, and finally a grown man. Spring was shot on location in South Korea, and much of its beauty is supplied by nature; the film takes place almost entirely on a house floating on a raft in the middle of a placid, isolated lake. The tranquility of the surroundings contrasts with the intensity of emotion that occasionally erupts as the young man struggles with his own jealousy and seemingly irrepressible rage. Needing only occasional, brief appearances from outsiders, Kim is able to make these two men are representative of a universal human experience, and the seasonal timetable reinforces their — and by extension our — connection to the cycles of nature , as does the presence in each section of an animal — a cat, a rooster, a snake — whose relationship to the men is both basic and complex. This is a deeply religious film that explores human violence, but instead of preaching, it achieves transcendence. In Korean with English subtitles. (103 minutes) At the Avon.
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