Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… Spring: A Film, Cinematography and Sound/Music Review

     Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter…Spring is one of the most unique films I have ever seen.  A 2003 South Korean drama by director Kim Ki-Duk, this film follows the seasons of the life of a Buddhist monk and his apprentice and shows how these seasons cycle.  This film was produced by the following companies and got an R rating; Korea Pictures, LJ Film, Pandora Filmproduktion, Cineclick Asia, Cinesoul, Mirae Asset Capital, Muhan Investment.  For the 103 minutes of this film there is very little dialogue but the cinematography and sound make sure the audience is enchanted for the whole duration.  This film is great for those who like a good drama and deep thought, but if your thing is action, adventure and explosions I would recommend you pass on this one.  With a cast including Oh Yeong-su, Kim Jogn-ho and the director himself Kim Ki-Duk the acting is spectacular even with its low amount of dialogue.  I give this movie a rating of 7.5/10 because even though it is a masterpiece, it is not for everybody. 

     This film follows the life of an old Buddhist monk (Oh Yeong-Su) living on a floating temple in the middle of a lake accompanied by a young boy, his apprentice.  The film uses the story of these two in order to outline the seasons of life and its cycle.  We begin with the spring of life (the beginning) where the young boy (Kim Jong-ho) is living with in the temple with his master.  The child seems full of innocence until an incident including a fish, a frog and a snake show us that here might be a deeper torment to the child than we can see.  After this incident the movie fast forward a few years into the summer of life when the boy turns into a young man (Seo Jae-Kyeong).  We see a young woman who comes to live at the temple due to sickness, she is the first human contact the young monk has had other than his master; by extension she is the first woman the young monk has ever seen.  After battling his faith and sexuality the monk finally seems to reach a decision and so love ensues.  When the girl is finally cured and has to leave the temple the young monk has a decision to make whether to leave or stay.  After his decision we move on to the fall of life where we meet the adult monk (Kim Young-min).  This stage is named appropriately since a horrible decision made by the apprentice has brought him back to the temple in a run.  He is taken in by the old master and made to repent through Buddhist teaching; however he cannot escape his punishment.  Soon two detectives (Ji Dae-Han and Choi Min) come to take him away, but not without allowing him to finish his atonement first.  Upon the end of fall we see the end of the cycle when the old master reaching the end of his life starts his own funeral rights as if it was the most natural thing in the world.  The scene is peaceful yet morbid and we are left with no human inhabitants in the temple and so winter begins.  During the winter of life we meet the old monk who (Kim Ki-Duk) who has come back to the temple after serving his time.  He now takes the place of his old master and pays his respects to him.  At the end of winter we see a horrid scene as a child is abandoned at the temple by his mother, who does not meet a happy end in the film.  This child is not left as an apprentice to the old monk and so the new spring start and the cycle of life finally start back up. 

     This film is definitely simplistic in terms of aesthetics and production; however it is very deep when it comes to meaning and philosophy.  Even though most of the movie is masterfully made what most stands out to help its deep meaning are the use of sound and cinematography.  The cinematography of this film, Headed by Baek Dong-Hyeon, was expertly used to not only show the comparison between humans and nature but also to show us the inner workings of the minds of the characters with very little dialogue.  Different shots such as long shots, aerial shots and scenic shots are used to show us the location of the film which seems like a dreamland detached from the horrors of modern society.  These shots, when they include people, make the vastness of nature engulf the characters which highlights their small role in the greater scheme of nature.  Cinematography is also used to supplement the low amount of dialogue in the film by helping emphasize the inner thoughts of the characters.  Often close ups, reaction shots and Point of View (POV) shots are used to emphasize surprise, horror and even sorrow.  These moments, such as the use of a POV shot when the mother is abandoning the baby, transports the viewer into that moment of sadness and horror by immersing us into the film.  In a similar fashion sound in the film (along with what little music there is) is used in order to emphasize feeling and help set the mood for the different scenes.  Even though the film has little dialogue there is never an awkward silence due to the expertly mixed ambient sounds; these are exceptional in realism with attention to detail where the wind is louder on top of a hill than it is in the forest.  These sounds along with a few chosen music scores remind us of the location of the scene and also set a mood with a silent winter becoming very ominous or a loud river adding to the excitement of young love.  The sound production headed by Konken Stephen and Ku Bon-Seung was spectacular and help made the movie such a hit.  These things made the film but other aspects surely helped.  The lack of dialogue present in Kim Ki-Duk’s film would normally hurt most pieces; however it is used here in order to enhance the more insightful aspects of the film.  The costumes in the film are also brilliantly simple and reflect the state of the characters.  The costume for the monks and those in the temple are simple and show the peace and simplicity of life, however for those touched by the outside world the clothes are more complex.  Finally the props used in the film when there are any help situate the viewer and tell the story.  Props like the stone on the child help visualize the weight on the heart because of what he did to the animals while other props such as the different pets serve more practical purposes such as visualizing the passage of time by the changing of animals.  These different aspects help make the film a hit even though its plot and nature make it specific to certain audiences.

     The actors in this work do a great job of expressing the film as well as providing fluidity.  Even though the apprentice monk is played by four different actors in different stages of life, they do an amazing job of providing a fluid character that changes with the years but remains easily identified.  On the other side Oh Yeong-Su who plays the old master plays the old archetype of the wise mentor to the T.  His acting provides a constant throughout the changing times and his demeanor is unfazed at every change in situation.  The acting in this film is superb and touches upon the deepest feelings in human nature.

     Overall this film is excellent in quality and composition; it exhibits what is expected of a top rank film in both sound and cinematography.  However due to the nature of both the film and the plot it is not a film that will be appreciated by everyone.  It possesses a very limited audience which is dwindling in our current age where people look for more entertainment than substance in film.  Because of this I have to give Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… Spring a rating of 7.5/10.  

Some Like It Hot (1959): A Film and Music/Sound Review

              Some Like It Hot might be an appropriate title for this 1959 comedy from Ashton Productions and The Mirisch Corporation.  With the heated chases, steamy romances and hot comedy director Billy Wilder does an excellent job of keeping his audience laughing it up throughout the 120 minutes of the movie.  The film features some big name actors such as Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon as the main characters.  The film does wonders in the area of narrative and music making it an amusing piece for the whole family to watch.  It contains cheap laughs and exquisite puns for all ages; however it also contains deep sociopolitical undertones which were especially progressive for the time period.  The film does lack in the acting of some of the secondary characters but this does little to dampen the quality of the film.  This film deserves a high rating for its music/sound and its narrative/dialogue however its lack of any impressing cinematography in combination with the unimpressive acting by some of the secondary characters leads me to give the film a rating of 8/10.  This film was not rated and can be watched in both its original black and white version or in a more modern colorized version.

              

               In Some like it hot a couple of musicians who are down on their luck during the tough times of the prohibition become hunted by the local mafia when they bear witness to a crime.  In need to get away from the city but also completely broke, the duo decides to dress up as ladies and join an all women band in route to Miami, FL.  In their long journey the two will learn that it is not easy being a woman in a man’s world.  When their trip gets more and more complicated the two friends are placed in countless situations where comedy is not lacking, and neither are the wondering hands.  Will they finally escape the mob? Will they be able to return to being men? And most importantly, how do they walk on those heels? To answer those questions you will have to watch this film which is all about the laughs, the awkward moments and the excitement.

                Like every film this one is a mixture of various things from cinematography to acting; however what comes through the most out of this film is its music and sound effects, but let’s leave those for last.  There are a few things that are part of this film but are either not of note or sincerely just not very good.  The most prominent disappointment of the film is the lack of acting ability in part of a handful of the secondary actors.  The most blatant example of this is the scene where toothpick Charlie is “rubbed out”, in this reviewers opinion his death is less than believable and a little over dramatic.  On the other hand the acting from the main characters is spectacular, they make you laugh until you drop and at points you even forget Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon are actually men.  The cinematography on this film is average, which is to be expected since it is not the main focus.  There are a few above average uses of the camera such as the use of a low angle right before the two broke musicians go betting being switched to a high angle when they lose everything; apart for a few of those however the cinematography is nothing of note.  Along with this most of the lighting in the film is natural light (usually from the sun) so again there is nothing to note there.  Where the film really starts to get interesting is when we start to look into the costumes and props.  You have to admit that making two full grown men into convincing women is a feat to be admired even with today’s amazing makeup, so imagine doing it in 1959.  With just the use of dresses, wigs, hats, jewelry and what I’m guessing was a truckload of waxing wax, the wardrobe department for the movie (headed by Bert Henrikson) manages two turn these two actors into very convincing women.  Costumes however are not the only thing that make the movie; let’s shift our focus into the true component that makes this such a good movie, the music and sound.

                The sound department headed by Fred Lau and the music by Adolph Deutsch are what truly place this film in its above average rating.  Most of the sound effects in this film are synchronous with the action in the frame and have a top quality mixing.  These sounds are often ambient noises that are part of the scene but are obviously added post production.  However, these ambient noises do serve a purpose other than to fill in silence; this film is very adept at using the ambient noise to remind us where we are.  There are various scenes in the film where we are in modes of transportation that resemble regular rooms very closely, such as the train and the yacht, and if it weren’t for the adept use of ambient noises such as the wheels of the train or the waves hitting the yacht we might forget exactly where he scene takes place.  Sound also have other more obvious uses in this film that add to its cinematography and to the comedy.  Often noises are used as sound bridges between scenes, now this is very normal of films but in Some Like It Hot the scenes are more so connected through the use of noise mimicking such as when Jerry repeats “I’m a girl, I’m a girl….” This slowly fades into the rhythm of the train and then Segway us into the next scene.  Sound is also used to very adeptly enhance the comedic effect of some scenes.  The best example of this is when Jerry says to Joe “I think I’m going to be sick…” and right at this point he goes out of shot and we hear what sound like someone throwing up, but when the camera pans out we see it is actually the gasoline tank overflowing.  Moments like this show a true mastery of the use of sound in the part of the sound department and a collaboration with the cinematography department.  The music in this film is also of top quality which is shown through many factors.  Firstly the music is very appropriate for the era, something that is sometimes lost when a film has a diegetic score written specifically for the movie.  The use of the music is also expertly done when the score is non-diegetic, the music helps us get a better image of the situation when there is no dialogue (such as the fast, hectic music when Joe changes from a women to a man) but it fades out and does not overpower the dialogue when this one begins.  The best use of music in the film however happens when the score is diegetic and the main characters are the source.  Whether it contains lyrics or not the music is a medium for the feeling of the character to be projected onto the audience.  The best example of this happens toward the end of the film when we see Sugar singing “I’m Thorough with Love” after she has had her heartbroken, and we can truly feel her sorrow from the melody.  This great use of music as a medium for emotions is what puts Some Like It Hot into a special place in film history.

                The three main actors in this film all truly deserve a special mention in this review.  Marilyn Monroe, a well-known star, who plays Sugar Kane does an amazing job of bringing her character to life.  Everything from her dialogue to her mannerisms convince us that Sugar is no more than this naïve and innocent girl who is just trying to keep her head above water in such a crazy world.  Monroe in my opinion plays the perfect innocent blonde girl and for that she is to be applauded.  Tony Curtis (Joe) and Jack Lemmon (jerry) on the other hand are the perfect comedic duo.  Curtis plays a perfect devious and strong cheapskate while Lemmon is perfect at playing the wacky and spineless sidekick.  Between their witty banter that carries this natural chemistry and their amazingly hilarious facial expressions these two can make a church mouse die of laughter in the middle of a service. 

                Because of its amazing use of sound and music along with it’s incredible acting by the main characters I give Some Like It Hot  an 8/10 rating.  This movie will make you cry from laughter or from the pain we feel coming from Sugar singing about her broken heart.  The amazing work with the costumes for such an early movie just puts this one over the top giving it that realism that we seek in all films.  Overall I highly recommend watching this film with the family so everyone can enjoy its comedy.