By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Kim Ki-Duk
Starring: Jae Hee | Kwon Hyuk-ho | Lee Seung-yeon
Original language title: Bin-jip
Country: japan, south_korea
Year: 2005
Running time: 95
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0423866/combined
Tom says: “I saw at least 2 dozen films at last years Toronto Film Festival, but the one that stayed with me was the Korean film 3-IRON.
“This delicate, quiet yet whimsical movie establishes Kim Ki-Duk’s (SUMMER, SPRING, SOMETHING AND GREENPEACE, THE ISLE) place as one of the most daring and visionary directors to come out of Asia in the last decade. The movie starts as we follow Tae Suk (Jae Hee, I think. Lord the IMDB info on Asian films drives me nuts) finding houses where the family is away on vacation and then breaking in and occupying them while they are away. He ‘repays’ the owners by fixing broken appliances and doing laundry, putting everything back the way it was before leaving.
“He encounters Sun Hwa (Lee Seung-Yeon, again I think, thank you so much, IMDB…), unhappy in her marriage, who chooses to follow him. The two never speak a word to each other (if I remember correctly) and begin to take on aspects of each others personalities, even physically as at one point they become mirrors as receive shiners on the opposite eye from one another under different circumstances.
“The movie crosses from a solid piece of whimsey into a true masterpiece at the 1 hour 5 minute mark, when a change is introduced that I won’t spoil but will wax upon for hours if I am allowed to…
“This movie starts at the Kendall Friday. For the love of God, do not miss this one.”
Beth says: “3-IRON, the newest from South Korean director Ki-duk Kim is damn near indescribable, yet nevertheless unforgettable. It was the best film I saw at Toronto last September, bar none, and I can’t wait to see it again next week! A young drifter steals effortlessly into empty homes while the owners are away, paying back for his stay by cleaning, laundering or doing fix-up projects. One day, however, he guesses wrong and encounters an abused wife, a virtual prisoner in her home, and a wordless but endearing and enduring relationship begins, as well as a narrative arc that – well, it sort of meanders through various tones, not unlike the lead wanders through houses. Believe me, you want to follow this one.”
Bruce says: “Director Kim Ki-duk follows his spiritual SPRING, SUMMER, FALL, WINTER AND SPRING…AGAIN with a story more centered in the material world. 3-IRON opens with a shot of an upper middle class Korean neighborhood that the viewer might easily mistake for a section of San Francisco, confused by similarity of both architecture and terrain.
“Tae-suk (Hee Jae) travels from neighborhood to neighborhood on an impressive motorcycle as he plasters food ads to the doors of upscale homes. Later each day he returns to the area to see who has not removed their ad from the front door. Using professional tools he picks the lock of the house he has chosen for the evening. Once inside he immediately listens to the answering machine usually to discover that the home owners are on vacation or at least away on a short trip. He makes himself at home, indulges in the ritual of tea, showers or bathes, tries on some clothes and does something mischievous to an appliance. He spends the night, then leaves the place after hand washing any laundry he finds laying about.
“One day he breaks into a house which seems empty. He does not realize that the husband is away but the man’s battered wife, Sun-hwa (Lee Seung-yeon), is still there. As Tae-suk wanders around the house and garden, Sun-hwa (Lee Seung-yeon) silently stalks him watching him drink his tea, bathe and do laundry. When Su-hwa’s husband returns home unexpectedly, he continues his spousal abuse. To the rescue, Tae-suk gallantly runs to the driving range in the garden and drives golf balls into the husband’s body, rendering him temporarily helpless. As Tae-suk makes a quick exit Sun-hwa jumps on the back of his bike and becomes his instant accomplice. The balance of the film documents what happens to them as they move from house to house.
“In 3-IRON, the motif of golf is metaphorical. Golf is a popular but elitist sport in Korea with green fees as high as $150. There are also tales of farmers being murdered or evicted from their own land so that new courses can be built to meet the demand. Tae-suk practices his swing constantly. We never know whether Tae-suk himself is from the upper classes although we suspect so since the police learn that he has earned a college degree.
“3-Iron is disturbing in its use of brutality by the upper classes as well as by those who supposedly enforce the law and guard the imprisoned. The film supports the belief that those who accumulate wealth and those who protect that wealth are not so different from culture to culture.
“Reminiscent of GOOD BYE, DRAGON INN, the two leads never exchange a single word with each other in the course of the film. Their silence adds mystery but also tells us that language is just one means of communication. The postscript of the film reads, ‘It is hard to tell if the world we live in is a reality or a dream.’ Needless to say, 3-IRON is not a film to be taken literally. 5 cats”
Michael says: “After hearing so many raves at Toronto 2004, then missing this film during it’s all-too brief run in Boston theatres, I finally caught up with 3-IRON, Kim Ki-Duk’s follow-up to the Chlotrudis Award-winning SPRING, SUMMER, FALL, WINTER… AND SPRING thanks to its DVD release. I was worried that the build-up had been too great and that I would be disappointed. This was not the case. Kim Ki-Duk has stepped into contemporary society with his latest film, and crafted an elegant film that captures love, alienation, isolation, and possibly the supernatural. Almost wordless performances by the two leads, Jae Hee and Seung-yeon Lee and are astonishing.
“Tae Suk is a college educated young man who spends his nights breaking in to various homes bathing, eating, sleeping, and cleaning up. He is a ghostly presence whose only representation in the real world lies in the photos he takes of himself posed among the various families living in the homes he breaks into. He encounters Sun-hwa in one of these homes. Thinking himself alone, he goes about his usual routine, little realizing that he is being observed by the equally silent Sun-hwa, who spends her life in isolation after suffering emotional and physical abuse by her husband. When Tae Suk intervenes in just such a scenario, Sun-hwa flees her home with him. She quickly adapts to his wandering life, but their adventurous romance is cut short when a misunderstanding lands Tae Suk in jail. Here we see the corruption in the Korean police force in full evidence, even as Tae Suk adds to his repertoire of skills be adding near invisibility to his silence. The lovers are reunited in a way that can be interpreted quite differently by different viewers, but reflects the spirituality and tone of the film.
“There are some hauntingly beautiful moments in 3-IRON that will resonate with me for a long time. I particularly loved the scene when Sun-hwa revisits one of the homes where she and Tae Suk had previously spent an amorous evening. The residents of the home are present when Sun-hwa silently lets herself in and proceeds to go to sleep on their couch where she’d previously made love with Tae Suk. It’s a lovely moment.
“Yet as in any Kim Ki-Duk film, violence is never far off, and in 3-IRON it is the antithesis of the calmness of the two main characters who reveal so much by their silence and their quotidian activities. I do find it mildly disturbing that the women in Kim Ki-Duk’s films are so often the victims of violence; and that this film was rated R for scenes of sexuality, which were very mild, yet there was no mention of the film’s violence, which was occasionally shocking. 4 cats”