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| Korean film director Kim Ki-duk is an acquired taste. Early in his career, his films were off-putting to many, for depictions of animal cruelty, misogyny, and explicit sex and violence. In 2003, Ki-duk made a complete 180 with “Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter…and Spring”, a quiet and contemplative film on lust and forbidden desires. Released in the US in 2005, “3-Iron” continued with this approach.”3-Iron” introduces us to Tae-suk, a lonely drifter who travels around on a motorcycle delivering take out menus to people’s doors. Tae-suk then returns to the places he delivered the menus and assumes that after several days, if the menus are still there, the people must not be home. By then breaking into these homes, Tae-suk then squats in these places for a few days, repairing appliances, doing laundry, cleaning, etc. until it becomes time to move on. It comes as no surprise that Tae-suk’s adventures living in and through stranger’s lives will catch up to him. He settles into a large home only to be observed by Sun-hwa, a battered wife, who is trapped inside her own home. Tae-suk is discovered rather quickly by Sun-hwa, who is intrigued and smitten with this new stranger in her home. Tae-suk observes Sun-hwa’s seemingly hopeless circumstances and frees from her domestic prison. With no dialogue spoken between the two of them, Tae-suk and Sun-hwa soon fall in love and together they escape. Tae-suk and Sun-hwa set out for new adventures until ultimately, everything they have run away from catches up with them.”3-Iron” is an intriguing film in many ways. There is virtually no dialogue between the lead actors and there are long stretches of silence. Jae Hee (Tae-suk) and Lee Seung-yeon (Sun-hwa) do a remarkable job of providing everything you need to know about these characters and their lives, simply through silent interaction, facial expressions, and subtleties in their movements. Sun-hwa ‘s attraction is understandable. Not just as an escape from a terrible marriage, Tae-suk also provides her the opportunity for something exciting and new, blissfully ignoring Tae-suk’s reality of fantasies and dreams. Eventually, fantasies and dreams come crashing into palpable reality for the two protagonists and the film closes with a confusing, almost existential, twist that left me confused. I admittedly had to revisit the film a second time to see if there was something obvious I missed. Disappointingly, I must say that I am unclear how “3-Iron” truly ends. I have a theory, but for a film that takes such a measured approach of laying out its story in an uncompromising and unique way, the twist is hollow and unrealized.
Beautifully shot and at times, almost poetic in it’s tranquility, “3-Iron” has one of the more intriguing stories I have seen in a film in the last few years. It’s just a shame that for me, it couldn’t deliver in the end. |
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Should I See It? |
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| YES
If you are a fan of foreign films, especially Kim Ki-duk’s challenging works. If you are looking for a love story completely different than any American studio would ever create. If you like contemplative films, which rely on mood and actions, not descriptive dialogue (because there is little to no dialogue in this film). |
NO Subtitles (although much less than other foreign films) If you are not a fan of “art-house” style films, as this has very little dialogue for its 88 minute run time. If the idea of 88 minutes of mood and subtitles and a potentially ambiguous conclusion makes you utter the word, “No” repeatedly and out loud. |
Oct 12
3-Iron (2005)
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