A Little Monk from Hill-Side Temple

Movie `A Little Monk` talks about our longing for motherly love. Director Ju Gyeong-jung came up with the story while looking after his mother suffering from cancer. It is a film debut for the 43-year-old director.

9-year-old little monk Do-nyum (Kim Tae-jin) came to this temple seated deep inside a mountain when he was a little baby. He can`t remember his mother`s face, but he waits her to come. `He is now tall` but she does not come. Then, he feels motherly love from a middle-aged woman visiting the temple.

Jung-sim (Kim Min-gyo), a young monk in his 20s, tries hard every night to control his sexual desire but it is not easy. So he asks the old monk (Oh Young-soo) what he has to do to control the fire inside him, but the old monk answers bluntly `Go and have a cup of tea.`

Director Ju describes the story of three monks sometimes comically and other times seriously. Do-nyum, watching young children playing, often becomes a mockery. It is touching when the little monk, after being scolded for tasting chicken, climbs up the hill and shouts out loud ˝Mother!˝ It is funny when Jung-sim keeps asking the old monk to have him a circumcision operation.

Even before released at home, the movie is already invited to 15 international film festivals. To have the year-around beautiful landscape, they had to move from Bongjung Temple in Gyoengbuk to Waljung Temple in Gangwon and then to Sunam Temple in Choennam. The beautiful scenes of mountains and temples catch the eyes of foreign audiences, in particular.

It took 7 years to complete the movie. Director Ju sold his house and his father`s, unable to get 700 million funds. He also borrowed additional 300 million won and used 10 cards for loan service.

Ju worried the most, however, if actor Kim grew too tall. He was a fourth-grader in primary school when the shooting began and entered middle school before the shooting was over. ˝I was so concerned about his growing up watching him eat too much,˝ Ju smiled.

Ju made a documentary film about the Gwangju Massacre in 1993. For all ages. Release on April 11.

Soo-Kyung Kim skkim@donga.com