3 iron

the 3 iron

3-Iron

Moviecut—3-Iron

After reviewing the IMDb comments for 3-Iron, my wife and I were looking forward to seeing the movie, but it turned out to be a waste of time for us. One of my big problems with 3-Iron is the lack of dialog from the main characters. To be more specific, there is almost NO dialog. The main character, Tae-suk, does not utter one word during the entire movie and his girlfriend, Sun-hwa, only says three words. Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but in my opinion, good drama requires good character development and good character development requires dialog. Since there is no dialog, you learn next to nothing about these characters and they learn next to nothing about each other. My second big problem--this is one of those movies that keep the audience interested by posing a lot of intriguing questions. However, to me it's not enough to just pose intriguing questions. The audience deserves at least some answers at the end. 3-Iron leaves you hanging because it provides virtually NO answers to those questions. The audience has to fill in all the blanks. Judging by the comments here, a lot of people like this kind of open-endedness and ambiguity, but we felt cheated. Granted, the basic premise of the movie is interesting, but it gets old fast with no dialog and much repetition. Here are some of the questions that get no definitive answers: 1. Why doesn't Tae-suk speak? There is no indication that he is deaf. 2. Why doesn't Sun-hwa speak? Is she mentally ill? 3. Why does a college graduate need to sleep in other people's homes and eat their food? Is he just a slacker? Is he doing it for fun and adventure? 4. Why is he so careless about getting caught? Does he want to get caught? Has he already gotten in trouble before and if not, why not? 5. Does Tae-suk have a job? 6. If he has no job, how can he afford a top-of-the-line motorcycle? 7. Why is he so obsessed with golf? Why doesn't Sun-hwa want him to practice his swing? 8. Why doesn't Sun-hwa's husband ever mention the fact that she doesn't speak? *SPOILERS* 9. Is Tae-suk still alive at the end or is he a ghost or just a figment of Sun-hwa's imagination? 10. If he is a ghost, how can he eat her food? 11. If he is alive, how does he move around in people's homes without being seen, even when there is more than one person there (making it harder to avoid being noticed)? 12. If he is alive, how is he going to continue to stay in Sun-hwa's home with her husband there? How is that going to work? 13. Is the entire narrative about Tae-suk just Sun-hwa's fantasy (if so, this is a cinematic trick that is becoming increasingly cliché)? If you like the idea of deciphering all these puzzles on your own, this is the movie for you. Otherwise, I wouldn't recommend it.

Originality is a rare commodity at any time, but it is in abundance in Kim ki-Duk's 3-IRON. The title refers to a golf club that is used to drive a ball long distances. In this case, the balls are, ultimately, driven into people with painful results. A drifter who lives in temporarily vacated houses and apartments repays the owners by repairing appliances and watering plants. He meets a sad, abused woman and a non-verbal connection grows. The magic is in the detail and the extraordinary cinematic clarity of Kim's style. There is the explosive violence that characterized his early films, but this entry is primarily an engaging character study with an existential bent. What's truly original is the director's adherence to the way he presents his material. The style is consistent throughout and dialogue is mostly superfluous. This has more in common with SPRING, SUMMER, FALL, WINTER...THEN SPRING AGAIN than THE ISLE, ADDRESS UNKNOWN or BAD GUY. Though I enjoyed the material, any subtler and Kim might begin to lose the edge that distinguishes him. Tonally, the film reminded me of aspects of OLD BOY.

Kim ki-Duk is one of the most provocative directors of the world. I remember "The Isle", his sexual and beautiful movie, a tale that a lot of people didn't understand, and since then, I'm a big fan of this Korean man. This new movie, "3-Iron", shows the best of ki-Duk's soul and senses. The loneliness where the characters live is a sea of dreams, like empty houses of golf balls without have been used. This movie should be considered like one of the year's best. I hope that the people in USA will see it because it's totally beautiful. Like in all the ki-Duk movies, the violence is an essential element, that can't appear hidden, because in this time, the violence is the gun of the characters. I'm looking forward to his next movie, "The Bow", but before, I've got to see "Samaritan girl", that has been released in my country this weekend.

Having witnessed Kim ki Duk's masterpiece in the past "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring", I was eagerly interested in this well received next venture. 3 Iron, is very similar in style to Spring Summer, there is very little dialogue, and the story tells itself. However, I had to admit that after about 65% of viewing this film, admiring the characters, I was still kind of wondering if this film was going to go somewhere. It had to make some direction. Only the last 3rd brought me back and really showed me how ingenious this film is. The lead actor Hee Jae really performs one of the most memorable performances, with hardly saying a word, his arching brows or glare in his face conveys every emotion masterfully compared to other actors who would have to say a million lines. I won't go over plot details that have already been discussed, what is interesting is that all the houses the two break into are all of couples in some stage in a relationship, one breaking down, one that is well established and peaceful, one that is young and virile, but perhaps inexperienced. It all seems to be a metaphor for how two beings meet to co-exist and compliment each other, particularly the final scene that ends with the two anti-heroes meeting up and finding their lives in perhaps perfect balance. Be patient with this film, STICK with it, it's well worth it. Extremely dreamy and poetic and masterful. Rating 8 out of 10

3-Iron Analysis (spoiler) This is not another review. There are sufficient reviews already. This movie was a deep, sensitive, imaginative masterpiece, and I glad that I saw it. Fortunately, the trailers did not warp it into a thriller or emphasize violence, or I would have skipped the movie and missed a special experience. Tae-suk lives life vicariously, scooping up and assimilating the experiences and relationships of families and individuals with varied lifestyles, talents, and living situations. It is a precarious game, but it is Tae-suk's reality, and he accepts it without fear and without being dissuaded by close calls and dangerous encounters. Tae-suk is basically a good person, intent on doing what he can to repay for the bit of life, memories and lodging that he borrows from others. However, he cannot escape the karma of his actions, and he accepts those results completely, often cheerfully. Tae-suk is a deeply internal person, and always true to himself. Thus he would not think of fabricating a story to turn around the situation with the man who died of lung cancer to his advantage. He simply flows with the unfolding of the Tao. (That is part of my own interpretation of the movie). Tae-suk is a free, uncontainable spirit. Incarceration is but an opportunity for him to develop and refine that aspect of consciousness, perception and ability that is uniquely him. He is totally true to his personal reality, which is a sort of game that he plays in his manner of interacting with the realities of others. That development takes him in the direction of Shao-lin type skills, which are the perfect extension of his own mode of being and perceiving. It is not untypical for martial artists to choose non-sharp, everyday objects as their respective weapons of choice. In ancient days, that might be a walking staff. In contemporary society, perhaps a 3-iron. (I just hope that no one gets the idea from this movie to try it). I am not a golfer, but I gather that the 3-iron is a seldom-used club for driving the ball hard, level, and with precision, for short-range distances. Even when used with a tethered ball, its power cannot always be controlled. There is always the possibility that it will get out of control, as when Tae-suk hits a car and kills a woman. This is a metaphor for Tae-suk's well-meaning style of life. Of course, he would not have driven the ball toward the car, had his reality not been complicated by extending to a real relationship, which kept standing in the way of ball's intended direction. One, also, cannot use a weapon, or interact with another life-stream, without occurring karma. Karma is not a bad thing; it is a teaching agent. Out of emotional involvement, Tae-suk maims Sun-hwa's husband, and thus Tae-suk must also experience the opposite end of the action by himself being the object of a golf-ball attack. Tae-suk accepts that karma, and still retains the 3-iron as his martial arts weapon, staying true to his life-style and personal reality. Tae-suk's lack of tolerance for abusive people is an admirable conviction. The way it affects him, though, is one of his few character flaws. In two instances, that of Sun-hwa's abusive husband, and his own abusive prison guard, Tae-suk is violently vengeful. For Sun-hwa, Tae-suk's reality is a positive alternative to her empty, abusive marriage relationship. Tae-suk is kind, genuine, integris, protective, and loving. His adventures are far richer than the confines of a suburban definition of paradise. In the end, Tae-suk develops a deep, more permanent, love relationship with Sun-hwa, but in keeping with whom he is, a perpetually precarious and dangerous one. The game and the allure have risen to a higher level. David D.

I must say that in general I am quite skeptical about Asian movies: I usually find them horrendously boring in the best case, and obnoxiously weird in the worst. In particular the last one, 2046, kept me agonizing in the theater while unconnected images -even though wheel shot and poetical- ran through the screen, so I was pretty scared when I entered the theater this time. Especially after a friend of mine told me it was a dramatic/romantic movie with almost no dialogs. Instead, i was surprised by how charming, touching and pleasant is this movie. The plot is about a guy who enters in empty houses and puts them in order, repairs things, does the washing (manually) and stuff like this. The photography is absolutely awesome and added to the skill of the actors supplies to the almost complete absence of dialogs. We assist to this platonic form of platonic love between the protagonists, while they live their absurd lives as they were the most normal people in the world. The end is a bit mystical and gives a lot of meaning to a movie that could seem nonsense. 9/10