Featuring: Spring Summer Autumn Winter and Spring / Samaria / The Coast Guard / 3-Iron / Birdcage Inn
Studio: Bitwin
Rating: NR
Genre: Drama
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About This DVD
A special box set of 5 movies made by the Korean
director Kim Ki-Duk, who has drawn consistent attention and critical acclaims in
the international stage for the past several years.
Spring Summer Autumn Winter and Spring
---> In "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter ... and Spring," Kim Ki-duk, a
South Korean director whose past films were often fueled by violence, does a
complete about-face. This film is a pastoral poem about the changing seasons and
a meditation on the cycle of life. In a tranquil and timeless setting of a
temple floating atop a man-made lake in a forest, surrounded by mountain spires
that cut the monastery off from worldly concerns, an old monk teaches his young
disciple the wisdom of Buddha over the many seasons of their lives. But don't
let the movie's mysticism fool you: This South Korean/German production has
created festival buzz here. Sony Pictures Classics snapped up the picture in the
second week. As it is chosen to be South Korea's entry into the foreign-language
film Oscar competition, "Spring" should become an art house hit in North
America. Set against the background of this floating monastery, the picture's
only set, the film follows the lives of a child monk and his master through four
different seasons of their lives. Kim infuses these episodes with Buddhist
principles, which teach kindness toward all forms of life and the goal of inner
peace. Yet the world does intrude into the serene hermitage, bringing with it
life's pleasures and sufferings. Under the watchful gaze of an old monk (Oh
Young-su), a little boy (Seo Jae-kyung) learns what sorrows his own cruelty can
cause. As a teen, the boy (Kim Young-min) experiences the power of love and of
lust when a young woman (Ha Yeo-jin) enters his life. Turning his back on the
hermitage, he joins the world of man only to return years later, in anger and
terror, when his desperate need for possession has turned to murder. Before
police can arrest him, his master sees that penitence has cleared his heart and
soul of all hatred.
Samaria
---> Unlike "Spring,ff however, the film doesnft extensively rely on
religious iconography to generate meaning. Rather, itfs a springboard for what
seems a rather personal take on the psychological and moral battles that has
plagued Kim throughout his career, always with provocative results. The moral
battleground in this film is a particularly sensitive one _ that of ``wonjo
kyoje,ff the phenomenon of older men who pay young high school girls for sex and
companionship. Kim begins the story with two students, Chae-yong (Seo Min-jeong(b))
and Yo-jin (Gwak Ji-min), who attempt to use prostitution to pay for a trip to
Europe, but who have differing perspectives on what their actions mean. For
Chae-yong, who at first is the only one who meets directly with clients, the
transactions with the older men are more than about money. Speaking frequently
of Vasumitra, a mythical Indian prostitute who used sex to help men gain
enlightenment, Chae-yong sees her actions in a spiritual light that appears to
her friend So-jin, and to the audience, as misguided. However, after a tragedy
befalls Chae-yong, So-jin also begins to use sexual relationships with older men
as a way to alleviate her guilt. The troubled girlfs actions are overlaid with
the notion of penance as well as, strangely, the idea of a Samaritan.
The Coast Guard
---> 'Kang'(Jang Dong Gun) is in the coast guard, and wants to catch a spy
so he can go vacation. Two lovers go to the area where 'Kang' is patrolling, and
he shoots them. He is shocked because he killed innocent people, but he was
awarded for that deed. He's going to be violent & mad for that trauma, kicked
out of guard work, but he can't leave there... The setting takes place in one of
Korea's eastern water regions, which seems to be a quiet and comfortable area at
first sight. However, a notice warns that whoever comes to this place in the
evening hours after seven o'clock will be regarded as spy and executed on the
spot! Kang is an army patrol who is stationed at the relevant place. One night
he witnesses a drunk couple who try to engage in sexual activities and in the
line of duty he kills the man involved in the matter. As the army believes that
Kang's shooting of the man is in accordance with the rules , they allow him
special leave to revitalize his spirits. However, Kang fails to get over the
terrible incident and even though he tries to explain all the details that led
to the death of the man, his girlfriend still calls him a killer. After his
leave period is over, Kang returns to his post, but is still unable to shake off
his past experiences. His mental shape gets worse and worse and in the end he
gets dismissed from duty and is sent back to Seoul. Yet Kang still believes that
he is a member of the coast guard and heads out to visit his old post one more
time c
3-Iron
---> One day he illegally enters an affluent businessman's large house only
to be discovered by the inhabitant's battered wife who is hiding in a corner.
Sensing the young stranger's gentleness, the woman not only does not turn him
in, she eventually leaves with him abandoning his hot-tempered, careerist
husband. Initially, there's no romance between them, just companions escaping
from reality. From this point on, the unlikely couple travels the city living a
phantom's life in other people's homes without them knowing it. The young man's
only lobby seems to be driving golf balls after stealing one of the abusive
husband's clubs after disarming him in a confrontation using said club. However,
the revenge-filled husband soon catches up and their benign existence is
disputed and questioned by the authorities when they are caught. It's a
fascinating concept, one powerfully executed with next to no dialogue (the main
actor Jae Hee doesn't speak in the film at all). As cinema, Kim successfully
relies on striking images and the actors' expressive face ? often with little or
very simple facial expressions. In an curious way, this is a "Bonnie & Clyde"
romance re-jigged as a commentary on macho Korean society's lack of emotional
connection.
Birdcage Inn
---> As brothels of Seoul are cleared away, they disperse to everywhere in
the country and also Jin-A gets to come to 'Inn Bird Cage' in Po Hang. A family
consists of father, mother, Hye-Mi, a college girl who is the same age with
Jin-A, and Hyeon-Wu a high school boy lives there. The troubles between two
women, one should go in guest's room and the other leads happy life as a college
girl, begin. Hye-Mi despises Jin-A who sells her body. And a subtle feeling of
Hye-Mi, who is not honest about sex , about Jin-A. Jin-A falls under a situation
that she is about to have sex with Jin-Ho, Hye-Mi's boy friend, while the father
and Hyeon-Wu make love with Jin-A. Thus the troubles inside of the blue gate
gets on high. Jin-A who sells sex but free from sex and Hye-Mi who has closed
and hypocritical sex. The situation goes from bad to worse due to Jin-A's nude
photo and suicide attempt, Jin-a and Hye-Mi finds many things in common of their
daily life each other just before the collide, and then the sense of difference
between him called sex gradually transforms into a mediation of reconcilement.
Hye-Mi commits unexpected thing by using her sex to show her friendship to Jin-A
while their warm friendship that gets over the limit fills inside of the blue
gate.
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Audio Format: | DD 5.1 Surround, DD 2.0 Stereo, DTS |
Video Format: | Widescreen 1.85:1 (Anamorphic) |
Languages: | Korean |
Subtitles: | English, Korean |
Country Made: | Korea |
Region Code: | 3 |
Year Made: | 1998 - 2004 |
Running Time: | 483 |
Special Features: | - |
Availability: | Usually ships in 5-10 days |
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