
In the midst of the Korean wilderness, a Buddhist master patiently raises a young boy to grow up in wisdom and compassion, through experience and endless exercises. Once the pupil discovers his sexual lust, he seems lost to contemplative life and follows his first love, but soon fails to adapt to the modern world, gets in jail for a crime of passion and returns to the master in search of spiritual redemption and reconciliation with karma, at a high price of physical catharsis... (Full plot summary below)
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In the midst of the Korean wilderness, a Buddhist master patiently raises a young boy to grow up in wisdom and compassion, through experience and endless exercises. Once the pupil discovers his sexual lust, he seems lost to contemplative life and follows his first love, but soon fails to adapt to the modern world, gets in jail for a crime of passion and returns to the master in search of spiritual redemption and reconciliation with karma, at a high price of physical catharsis...
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| San Francisco ChronicleCarla MeyerA masterful portrait of the seasons of a life. |
| Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanThis meditation on spirituality, loneliness and accountability could touch your heart's core. |
| Christian Science MonitorDavid SterrittKim's movie conjures a sense of spiritual discipline as suspenseful as it is stunning to watch and exhilarating to contemplate. |
| Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranAs meditative and beautiful as its title would indicate. What is a surprise is the extent to which it manages to be involving if you can put yourself on its wavelength. |
| New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter RainerKim exalts nature--lifes passage--without stooping to sentimentality. He sees the tooth and claw, and he sees the transcendence. Whether this is a Buddhist attribute, I cannot say, but the impression this movie leaves is profound: Here is an artist who sees things whole. |
| Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternTruly a movie for world audiences with a message that's devastatingly subtle. |
| Austin ChronicleMarrit IngmanProof that movies dont always have to be busy to entertain and enrich, this tale of life at a bucolic Korean monastery is at once profound and simple. |
| Boston GlobeTy BurrThe film is as spare and unvarnished as a wooden temple floating on a lake, but its reflections run deep, and it can ripple your thoughts for months. |
| ReelViewsJames BerardinelliUsing perfectly composed shots to amplify an emotionally resonant story, the film successfully argues that "artistic" films do not have to be boring. |
| PremiereGlenn KennyAn exquisitely realized film; a little gem, it keeps its conflicting or varying themes of tranquility and violence, sacred and profane love, recklessness and wisdom, in almost perfect balance. |