I just watched "Torrents of Spring" from 1989 for the first time ever and I liked it well enough so I rated it a 6/10. I don't think that it will appeal to everyone but if you like costume dramas or period pieces then you should like this film. The cinematography is wonderful as are the settings, and the costumes and women are beautiful; these factors alone make this a film worth watching. However this is a rather stiff film whose script and action feels lacking at times and whose characters are thinly drawn. It feels as though we the audience are viewing shapes and forms on the wall of Plato's Cave more than anything else, and perhaps that's the intention given the opening and closing scenes which frame this tale as being largely inside the main character's head, whose memories and id haunt him. As he ferries across the water, so must he skate over and brave the monsters, passions, desires, and shortcomings of his own mind and soul, even now as an old man and perhaps even more so after death ferrying across the river Styx. This esoteric opening and closing where the leading man is portrayed quite literally and figuratively as the Fool, reminiscent of the Tarot mystery, is not really necessary in my opinion and it is almost too on the nose. In summary, this tale of love, passion, and temptation of one man for two different beautiful women is oddly dispassionate at times though lovely to look at, but at least it doesn't fall into the trap of solely being cheap and wantonly sensual.
Review of Torrents of Spring
