3-Iron (2004) User Reviews

A beautiful movie

[Antagonisten · 9/10 · 8 September 2005]

To me it's been obvious for quite some time now that South Korea is by far the most interesting country in Asia when it comes to film. And Asia on the other hand feels like the most interesting continent, so where does that leave us?

"Bin-Jip" (or "3-iron") is a wonderful movie. I went to see it without really knowing what to expect. I must admit that even though South Korean films appeal to me my expectations were quite low, not least because the movie was described in a way that was vague to say the least. But after watching it... it all made sense. Because how do you describe a movie like this one? It moves somewhere in the shadow-land between reality and fantasy. One of those movies that has very little plot to it but still comes across as beautifully written. And above all things it made me feel good!

The closest reference i can find to how this movie made me feel is "Lost in Translation". Don't get me wrong, the movies are not very alike. But the feeling they gave me is the same. When i watched these movies for the first time i felt like i didn't really know what i was i just saw. I only knew that i liked it and it made me feel good. A warm sensation in my gut telling me that maybe there is hope after all. Hope for what? I don't know, life maybe?

In the end the 3-iron, the golf-balls and the surface are not important. What's important is life, love and warmth. This is a beautiful movie, both on the surface and beneath it. It is also a truly unique movie experience and i don't get to say that very often. Highly recommended and definitely one of the best i've seen so far this year.

9/10

Wonderfully written, wonderfully shot

[marcoduse · 9/10 · 19 November 2004]

"Bin Jip" was presented as a surprise this year at the Festival of Venice. Kim Ki-duk had already been swimming in the waters of the Lido three years ago, with his charming-thrilling-shocking "The Isle". This year's Festival was a rather noisy one. Kim Ki-duk brought silence. This year's Festival was a rather hasty one. Kim Ki-duk brought peace. This year's Festival was a rather boring one. Kim Ki-duk brought a ray of invention with this wonderfully written, wonderfully acted and wonderfully shot movie. What lies beneath the silence of "Bin Jip" is probably a story of ghosts: a boy pretending to be a ghost, or average humans not realizing they have always been. Nothing is fully explained, as nothing in life really is. Nobody else will ever make a movie lighter and funnier and warmer than "Bin Jip" - to watch is to understand.

Reality and Dream

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 3 August 2012]

The lonely and silent rider Tae-suk (Hee Jae) breaks in empty houses and lives a normal life while the owners are traveling. He does not steal anything and moves from house to house without any loss other than food, and he cleans the houses, provides small repairs or washes some clothes to retribute the hospitality.

When he enters in the house of Sun-hwa (Seung-yeon Lee), he does not see the woman that is wounded in her room after being beaten up on by her abusive husband Min-gyu Lee (Hyuk-ho Kwon). Tae-suk helps the hurt woman and when Min-gyu returns, he hits the husband with golf balls and Sun-hwa leaves her husband with Tae-suk in his motorcycle.

When they break in the house of an old man, they find that the man is dead and Tae-suk provides funeral service for him. However, his son returns and Tae-suk and Sun-hwa are arrested by two abusive police detectives. He is sent to prison and Sun-hwa is forced to return home. But she never forgets him.

"Bin-jip" is a subtle film about a lonely drifter and an abused wife that finds love, empathy and human warmth with him. The story is open to interpretation and here is mine (it is a spoiler – therefore if you have not watched the film yet, do not read):

Tae-suk is murdered by the prison guards when he leaves his cell, and Min-gyu Lee receives a phone call from the police telling that the youngster had been released as a sort of justification for his disappearance. Sun-hwa lives with the "ghost" of the free-spirited Tae-suk as a way to help her to survive to his marriage life.

Maybe I am too simplistic, but that is the way that I have understood this pleasant film. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Casa Vazia" ("Empty House")

Try a little tenderness...

[Boris-57 · 10/10 · 26 January 2005]

Watched it two times the past week. In a nutshell - I dare anyone to find a film that is more sober and so light and that at the same time fills you with a deep warmth an and all encompassing feeling of great tenderness. Really.

Its story is of such unbelievable simplicity that at the first sight of such a script you'd wonder how on earth it would be possible to make it into a film - or tell anything with it that goes beyond the script. Add to this the fact that any dialogue almost entirely fails to manifest itself...

But then you forget about Kim Ki-duk! If anyone was born with the eye of the cinematographic magician, it must be him. Despite the fact that I did not like The Isle at all, the photography was utterly unbelievable. Same for Spring, Summer... But then I still thought "well, anyone with reasonable skill can get a good image out of such landscapes/spaces". But none of that here - mainly indoors or in the city - just a guy spending his nights at other unknown people's places while they're away, and in turn repairs stuff and cleans/does the laundry. And STILL the images are nothing less than breathtaking. The light is superb, the framing, everything... Also the storytelling... pacing is perfect - he tells the story with images more than with events. The film actually becomes light as feather, and then lighter. Sublimation. And besides that, he manages to squeeze in some real drama and the occasional laugh. Go figure.

I'm gonna quit here, there's really nothing much more I can add. Do yourself a favour and see this inconspicuous little film that is so profoundly simple and beautiful that you'll be wanting to send me a thank you note afterwards for telling you this.

3-Iron Analysis

[daviddiamond · 10/10 · 31 May 2005]

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.

A deep beautiful story of reality and illusion

[lastliberal · 10/10 · 21 April 2007]

Ki-duk Kim has written and directed an outstanding film about a homeless, but creative individual who breaks into houses for a place to eat, sleep, and clean himself up. While there, he fixes anything that is broken, does the laundry, and makes sure he cleans up after himself.

He breaks into a house that he thinks is empty and finds an abused woman. What transpires is one of the most tender and beautiful films I have ever seen. I would not spoil it by revealing any of the plot as this is one you definitely have to see.

If Ki-duk Kim can write a love story this incredible, I certainly want to see his action films.

One of the most remarkable films ever made

[desh79 · 10/10 · 21 November 2006]

Kim Ki-Duk's films portray a black world view, one by which our selfish impulses cause us to destroy each other and, ultimately, ourselves. They are driven by the central character's desire to escape this world, in their own ways eventually finding a way out of the reality that engulfs them. In Real Fiction (2000), the protagonist disappears into a day dream in which he has revenge on all those who wronged him in the past; in Spring Summer Autumn Winter... And Spring (2003), a Buddhist monk lives, literally, on an island separated from the rest of the world; any contact with the outside world results in tragedy, be it a visiting mother fleeing with her child (she drowns, though the child, gratefully, survives), or the monk's apprentice running off with a girl (he ends up murdering her and is wanted by the police); in Bad Guy, the eponymous protagonist tries to find solace through his own love fantasy; and then there is 3 Iron, Kim Ki-Duk's magnum opus and one of the most remarkable films ever made.

3 Iron seems to tie all the visual and thematic aspects of Kim's films together, neatly and impressively, making it the "ultimate" Kim Ki-Duk film, much the same way Fitzcarraldo is the "ultimate" Herzog- or North By Northwest was the "ultimate" Hitchcock film. Like every Kim Ki-Duk film, the protagonist is a rank outsider from mainstream society. Like Bad Guy, the character plays his part almost entirely mute (and on this note, both Jo Jae-hyeon's and Lee Hyun-kyoon's performances have to be utterly applauded for being both wonderfully subtle and yet so forcefully expressive). Once again, we are faced with a latent dual reality, where the protagonist escapes the world around him, but is also brutally dragged back into it. Like Bad Guy, 3 Iron is a strange love story, albeit a far more assuasive one, where both the characters decide to disappear into "their own world".

However, 3 Iron defies explanation. Can you imagine trying to pitch this to a Hollywood producer? "Ok, there's this guy and he, like, breaks into people's houses. He washes their clothes, dishes, bathrooms -.. he even wears their clothes, sleeps in their beds, and repairs stuff for them, like clocks or broken toy guns (with hilarious consequences in the latter's case!). One day he breaks into a house, thinking he's alone, but meets an abused wife. When her husband returns, he proceeds to attack the old philanderer in a very original way (which neatly ties in with the title of the film... you'll see) and she runs off with him. They then enter "his" world and live "his" life together, breaking into houses, etc, before they get dragged back into the real world with all the pain and suffering it brings". Yeah! That'll really get the 18-25 demographic rolling down the aisles! Chances are I would have been kicked out midway through the second sentence, though if I'm really honest I wouldn't actually mind trying to pitch this to Don Simpson, just to see the reaction on his face.

But it really would be doing this movie little justice to try and "summarise" it in some neat little way. It needs to be watched, it needs to be experienced, like all the great movies. There is no real "idea" in this film, necessarily, nor is there a big "statement" of sorts - Kim Ki-Duk is not a "statement" film-maker like Godard or Eisenstein. Rather, like Lynch, he prefers to make films that work on an instinctive level, in that they draw a gut emotional reaction from you that cannot necessarily be articulated or expressed in an intellectual manner. Is it any coincidence, then, that Kim, like Lynch, primarily hails from a painting background, and actually wanted to be a painter before he became a film-maker?

Paintings are an apt analogy, since every frame is clearly carefully and thoughtfully choreographed (characters are either separated (in both the physical and emotional sense) by vertical-, or they are united by horizontal lines). But putting aside any visual- and textual comparisons to Lynch, Kim Ki-Duk also draws a lot from Wong Kar Wai in terms of narrative, and anyone who has seen Chungking Express should notice comparisons to 3 Iron in that both concentrate on a character who breaks into someone else's house/flat and lives their life without them noticing, or how one song is ceaselessly repeated to emphasise both the love between the two central characters and, furthermore, the characters' wish to escape reality (though 3 Iron does so more on a less literal level, as I mentioned before) - in Chungking Express, it was California Dreamin' (a song that will never be the same for me after that film, and I suspect a lot of people feel this way), while in 3 Iron it's "Gafsa" by Natasha Atlas.

Still, I suppose I can conceptualise and intellectualise to my heart's content - somehow I doubt that any of this will spur you to watch this movie. But I think it should. This film deserves to be seen. It's a tender, thought-provoking, and ultimately (and quite strangely) heart-warming film, as well as, quite possibly. an indication that Kim Ki-Duk is slowly coming of an age as a film-maker, moving on from an entirely pessimistic worldview to one that is more reassuring and serene. Yes, there is suffering and darkness, but there is also hope, and I think, this, ultimately is what 3 Iron is trying to tell us. It is, in short, utterly required viewing, not to mention the work of a true genius. And it's really not very often I bandy this word about.

Transcendental Joining

[tedg · 18 July 2007]

I have marked this with a spoiler warning. But I will add an additional warning that you really should not read this if you want the full effect of this film.

I've seen "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring," by this same filmmaker and found it tediously sweet with none of the advertised transcendental insight.

And I knew coming into this, that it was inspired by "Chungking Express," both in its hasty assembly and in the story itself. I expected it to be a watered down version of that, and it was indeed. But its shifted into imagination. And its (believe it or not) more cinematic at root.

Its more directly rooted in the romance movie, but wholly now. And in the kung fu movie but equally new.

And more surprises: it is so amazingly effective that I found myself helplessly bawling at the end. It succeeds in showing a growing love that is both pure and that does what "Spring..." does not: it transcends.

It transcends the normal romance model. The form is fairly rigid. For all the humanness we have as people, and all the variety in lives and real relationships, we have a startlingly small number of target stories when it comes to love, and by this I mean the romance, the engagement, the charm of shared, scented bliss.

One reason it was so effective for me is that it sneaks up on you. The story is something like "Badlands," and is very much in the Malick tradition. We expect the fragility of perfect merging of souls to be revealed as a fantasy of opportunism, with charm — including cinematically narrative charms — along the way. We expect disaster. And it does come, slowly ratcheting up. Of it appears to come, each time being deflected a bit from the norm, with the destructive power being deflected.

And then after you have been watching for 7/8s of the thing, it shifts ever so gently into a slightly different magical world. Its all so natural, that the logic that it does is plain: this is where love lives, with the magic of the romance natural, as a permeating field. This really does sneak up on you, and the ending is so lovely, so expressive of love that you won't be able to get out of your seat. Its even engineered so that the only words from our lovers in the entire film are those three ordinary ones made magical at the end by their rarity.

I wish to recommend this to you. Everyone needs to be reminded what love is and we often come to film for registration. This is something you need to see with your partner if you suspect you have found your soulmate.

As a student of film, I especially appreciate how in the film our hero tinkers with machines he finds in our "houses." And how after working for an hour and a half on visual beauty (the woman is a model, whose photo we see all over), after all that, the trick of love is invisibility.

"In the Mood for Love" was my best film about love, but it was hooked into dreams, not life. This is.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

A quiet, artful movie. I liked it, too :)

[siderite · 7/10 · 9 December 2006]

It's hard to mark this movie because it's hard to put it into a category. It is romance, social satire and drama in the same time. This guy breaks into houses and lives inside them like they were his own, while the owners are gone, without actually stealing anything. I don't want to spoil the ending, but I think this is the main pillar of the movie, the idea that one can succeed on living in the world, but out of sight. This is a movie for the true pariah, the one that wants to be left alone, in silence, in his own world.

It is said that the best warrior wins the battles without fighting. If that's true, then Kim Ki-Duk is amongst the best dialog writers ever :) The characters say nothing, but tell a lot.

I think it is a movie worth watching, it's quiet and has some original ideas that can catch your imagination if in the right mood.

Stick with me here..

[smakawhat · 8/10 · 27 May 2005]

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

Not the most impressive Kim Ki-Duk film I've seen

[bastard_wisher · 6/10 · 1 January 2006]

Honestly, I don't think this is nearly as good as some of Kim Ki-Duk's other films. I haven't seen them all, but certainly this didn't impress me as much as "The Isle" or "Samaritan Girl" did. Not that it's a bad film at all, but I think it reveals Kim Ki-Duk as a limited filmmaker at least. The dreamlike, unreal aspects have always been apparent in his films, but here they stretch the limits of credibility to the point of emotional disengagement. Sometimes the film threatens to become so diffuse and otherworldly that it simply floats off into the ether. Also, it becomes more noticeable than ever what an unremarkable visual stylist Kim Ki-Duk is. Surely he is still one of the most interesting filmmakers working today, but compared to his contemporaries like Wong Kar-Wai and Tsai Ming-Liang he is sometimes sloppy and in general less accomplished or imaginative. To call the film slow or minimalistic would be missing the point (although, to the film's credit, I didn't notice that there were only two lines of dialogue in the whole film), but I did find at times that the plot seemed like a limp melodrama spiced up with a huge portion of obtuse, self-consciously artful technique. Not that the film isn't truly artful, but it doesn't help things to realize that the central motif of the film (the lead character breaking into unoccupied houses) so closely resembles Tsai Ming Liang's "Vive L'Amour". At least the film isn't, for once, hampered by sub-par music, as has been the case with some of Kim Ki-Duk's work in the past. All and all it is a good film, although not the one of Kim Ki-Duk's that I find the most inspiring. I will certainly continue to watch more of his films though, as I think he is one of contemporary cinema's most elusive, subtlest masters.

An extraordinary film - lyrical 'say it with silence' by filmmaker Kim Ki-Duk

[ruby_fff · 8/10 · 7 May 2005]

The Korean film "3-Iron" has an extraordinary story - not the content 'Per Se' but its treatment, approach and delivery by producer-writer-director-editor Kim Ki-Duk. There are many quiet, speechless moments and scenes, yet they spoke volumes - almost the feel of Zen, meaningfully so. It's beyond what the society or people 'traditionally' may see or assume. Yes, there may be 'turn off's' and disapproving situations - can we, do we, have the heart to forgive? Are we so 'sacred' and impeccable without ever making mistakes in our lives? Yes, we may not be so bold and brash as to 'crash' into another man's house - yet the thought of the young man's 'reality' of being so simple 'matter of fact' walking into someone else's home is not so improbable? He actually appears to be a thoughtful person. He handles with care the content of the house. He picks up the clothes lying around the place, gathers them, hand-washes them, hangs them up, cleans up the place, literally enjoys the home environment (the bath, the kitchen, the food, the bed, etc.) The observant dilemma being he obviously appreciates the house/home more than the owners/occupants.

There is 'suspense' - we'd worry what will happen to him, to him and her, and as the worse fear may arise (just like any cops and robbers film), can true justice prevail after all? Just when you think you figured out what's going on, w-d Kim gives us something more to think about. Elements that we don't expect - we're in awe at the concept and perspective presented to us, the viewer. It's quite extraordinary, really. And be afraid not, it will be rewarding, satisfying somehow, and you just might savor that last moment of magic between the two lead characters, her and him. The strength of the two leads portraying to perfection at sublimated tempo by Lee Seung-Yeon (as Sun-Hwa the woman) and Jae Hee (as Tae-Suk the man) is truly a godsend (both in their debut performances).

Once again, bravo to Sony Pictures Classics for the choice distribution of this film. Check out the Official Site for Director's Statement and a detail synopsis (best to do this after seeing the film.) "Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter…and Spring" (2003) is another film by w-d Kim, exquisite in cinematic visual and integral in storyline experience. (For non-golfers, the title "3-Iron" refers to golf club.)

odd but compelling art film

[Buddy-51 · 7/10 · 11 November 2006]

"3-Iron" is a very odd, idiosyncratic work from South Korean filmmaker Ki-duk Kim. In the highly unusual premise, Tae-suk is a young, golf-obsessed homeless man who breaks into the houses and apartments of people who are away on either business trips or vacations - not to steal from them but simply to have a comfortable place to stay temporarily. In one of those homes, he meets a beautiful young woman whose husband physically and mentally abuses her and with whom Tae-suk strikes up a strange but meaningful relationship. Together, they roam from empty residence to empty residence, experiencing many strange events and encounters as they go.

In the film's most bizarre conceit, Tae-suk and Sun-hwa never say a single word either to each other or to anyone else throughout the course of the movie. This puts an added strain not only on the actors who must convey all their characters' thoughts and emotions through gestures and facial expressions, but on the audience as well. Indeed, many people may shut this movie off out of simple frustration and confusion. Others, however, searching for the different and the offbeat, may find the movie strangely compelling and even quite touching. Kim creates a world that becomes increasingly more illusory as the story unfolds, to the point that, by the final scenes, we no longer have any idea what is "real" and what is not. "3-Iron" is a slow-moving, patience-demanding work that draws us into its enigmatic world and that truly pays off in the end.

A film that becomes more and more symbolic along the way

[frankde-jong · 5/10 · 16 August 2020]

Sex plays a prominent part in the films of Kim Ki Duk, for example in "Bad guy" (2001) or "Samaria" (2004). Even in his more philosophical works such as "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter ... and Spring" (2003) sexual feelings are present in the background.

In the beginning "Bin Jip" seems no exception, a book with erotic art photography playing a recurrent role. It encourages a young man to masturbate, he looks images while in bath and irons those images afterwards. Only later the film becomes more purely philosophical.

The film is about a a young man staying in empty houses ("bin jip" means empty house). To determine which house in a neigborhood is empty he sticks leaflets on the frontdoors in the morning and watches which leaflets are still there in the evening. He does not steal anything, and in exchange for the self invited hospitality he does little repair jobs in return. In one house he meets an abused housewife who accompanies him since then.

In the beginning I tought the symbolism of the visits of the young man was "voyeurims". Only later it dawned on me that the symbolism was invisibility, just as the absence of dialogue for this character and the abused housewife stands for inaudibility.

The film gets more and more dependent on symbolism and associations. Some of which I did understand (when the young man stands on a scale for the first time he weights to heavy, when he stands on it together with his new found love the scale indicates a weight of zero), and some of which I don't. What for example is the meaning of golf in this picture? Apparently it is important, because an alternative title for the film is "3-iron", which indicates a (scarcely used) golfclub.

In the second half the film turns almost religious, the main character trying to dispose of his material body. By then I really lost the thread.

Wordless Wonder!

[dcold · 31 January 2005]

3-Iron is the (almost) wordless story of a young burglary artist, who, to find shelter for the night, will post Chinese food fliers on doors and return to occupy vacant homes for the night. While he is in the home he will do laundry or small fix-it jobs leaving the home better than he found it.

His routine and life change when one of the homes he enters is NOT vacant and he finds a young wife that has been beaten by her husband. When the husband returns and begins his assault again, the young man uses an unusual approach to defending the woman who decides to leave with him and join him on his nightly rounds.

This movie is a treat in this day and age of "talkie" movies with too much exposition and dialog. So simple and yet profound. So much is told with a glance and a picture that I'm sure it will be studied in film schools for years to come.

Originality in abundance

[fertilecelluloid · 8/10 · 26 July 2005]

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.

Keep silence, please

[antonio_von_cuesta · 10/10 · 17 April 2005]

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.

A pleasant surprise: great movie

[erixal · 9/10 · 18 January 2005]

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

The unexpected visitor

[jotix100 · 8/10 · 15 May 2007]

Ki-duk Kim, the director of this film, continues to surprise. We have enjoyed immensely most of what Mr. Kim has offered us. Mr. Kim, like some of his contemporaries in Asian film has a different aesthetic value, which comes across in most of his poetic films in which reality and dreams seem to blend well together.

In the case of this surprisingly complex tale about a young man who goes into other people's homes, not to steal, but to live in them as though he really lived there, Mr. Kim has created a tale of an ideal world in which this young man loves to feel as though he belongs. Little prepares the intruder for the adventure he is about to embark when he enters a home in which, unknown to him, an abused woman becomes mesmerized by the boldness in which this youth breaks in. She follows his every move until she realizes he is a good person. Their fateful encounter will take them into uncharted territory which will unite them in more ways than they knew.

"Bin-jip" offers the viewer a fantastic look at the work of a gifted director who seems to get better with every new film. Mr. Kim's world is a mysterious one, one worth exploring as an adventure.

Tender and quiet oddball

[Atavisten · 7/10 · 30 March 2006]

Kim Ki-duk is a master of cinema. I await his every movie with high anticipation. Sometime he falls a bit (just a little) behind that anticipation like with 'Samaria' which was good thematically and imaginary, but lacked a good resolve. 'Bin Jib' is compared nothing thematically (has no important issue or topic). It is more floaty and dreamy than anything else. Actually Kim Ki-duk reinvents himself here and makes a movie where the underlying factors for the characters has no meaning. The result is a comedy that despite that the dialog is sparse and the script is thin somehow dances like a feather on a breeze. And this haunting Middle-Eastern music still haunts me half a year after.

The reason I was a little bit (again a tiny bit) disappointed was that I expected Kim to tell me something. Well, next time then.

Silent movie

[kosmasp · 10/10 · 5 February 2007]

If you're out looking for a movie that has lots of explosions, than you're wrong here. This movie could even be classified as a silent movie. Not that there is no talking at all here, but there's not really much talking either. And there is no need for it anyways.

This drama that unfolds right before your eyes is so gripping and strong, that it's painful. But that is the intention of director Kim Ki Duk. His movies are never easy ... and this is no exception. So if you like a movie with a story, but with a moving pace that could even tire a snail, than watch this. Everyone else beware! The camera work and the acting is superb, but wouldn't help if you can't cope with the slow rhythm of the movie! :o)

Almost a silent movie

[pontifikator · 7/10 · 5 January 2013]

This is the first film I've seen by director Kim Ki-duk, and I'll put it in the "Magic Realism" genre. The movie stars Lee Seung-yeon as our hero, Jae Hee as our heroine. As far as I can remember, the characters they play never say a word to each other until the final scene.

Lee's character (Sun-hwa) is apparently homeless; he posts take-out menus on doors then circulates back to see which doors still have the menus on them the next day. He picks the locks of supposedly vacant homes or apartments and spends a night or two -- he listens to the answering machine to see if people have said they'll be away. While he's there, he fixes whatever is broken and does the people's laundry. He finds one apparently vacant home in a very well-to-do neighborhood and breaks in. He wanders through the home, finds that the scales need to be repaired, does so, and plays some golf in the backyard before noticing that the home is indeed occupied.

It turns out the owner is away on business, but his wife (named Tae-suk) remains; she shows the bruises and busted lip of their last discussion. She's a prisoner in her own home, and our young hero is a free-spirit with no home. It's a match made in heaven.

The title of the movie comes from the 3 iron that Sun-hwa finds in the home occupied by Tae- suk and her beater. The husband comes home early, takes her to task for not answering his phone calls, and discovers Sun-hwa lurking in the back yard. Sun-hwa takes the 3 iron and drives several golf balls into the husband, knocking him down; Sun-hwa and Tae-suk make their escape on his motorcycle.

Our couple continues his pattern of handing out fliers, finding a vacant apartment, and staying overnight. Nothing much happens during these scenes with nothing being said, and yet we follow their meandering path with interest and feeling. Eventually someone discovers them and calls the police. The police investigate but find no evidence of any crimes, no thefts, only repairs and clean laundry. Tae-suk is returned to her husband, and Sun-hwa is sent to jail for breaking and entering where he serves a short sentence.

Now is where the magic realism comes in to play. Sun-hwa hides from his jailer, causing the jailer to beat him and threaten to kill him. Sun-hwa becomes better and better at hiding, becoming capable of standing behind the jailer out of his view no matter how the jailer twists and turns. Eventually, he becomes invisible to the jailer. The jailer constantly threatens Sun- hwa with death and beats him each time. When it comes time to release Sun-hwa, he is escorted down a tunnel to a light at the end of the tunnel.

Apparently Sun-hwa revisits each of the places he stayed with Tae-suk; I say apparently because there is evidence of his ghostly presence, but neither we nor the occupants ever see him, although the occupants are aware of a presence. He goes to Tae-suk's home, and while her husband can't see him hiding behind him, Tae-suk does see Sun-hwa and tells him she loves him. Her husband is shocked and pleased because he assumes she's addressing him. Tae-suk fixes her husband breakfast, placing bowls around him so that as he turns to one serving, Sun-hwa steals a bite from another, both husband and loved one being filled from the same offerings.

The husband leaves, and we see the lovers embrace, standing on a scale that reads zero.

We saw Sun-hwa fix the scale earlier. If we paid attention, we know his weight shown before he fixed it, his weight after he fixed it, and her weight after he fixed it. We saw Tae-suk take the scale apart after she was returned to her husband, so she may have restored it to its former error, and we know their combined weight would take the broken scale back to zero if they both stood on it. So we can imagine that the unrepaired the scale and their combined weights plus the error is the 180 kilos which takes us back to zero. Or we can imagine that the yin and yang of their love is weightless. Or we can imagine that he was beaten to death in prison and that he is, indeed, a ghost whose spirit lifts her body so that it, too, is weightless. It's an interesting film with a spiritualism that is not heavy-handed.

Because of the ending, we get to fill the movie with meanings and emotions of our own. Of the places they stayed, only one couple was happy, and they both return to it separately to spend some time again. It's an easy movie to put meaning into as we see the empty apartments and lives of others in Seoul. It's a fascinating and interesting love story.

The version of the movie that I saw is rated R in American. This is a travesty. There is no nudity, and there is no sex. Apparently two scenes caused the MPAA to lose its mind: in one scene we see him under a sheet looking at a book of photographs with a nude model; his hand is jerking back and forth under the sheet, so we assume he's masturbating. In another scene after Tae- suk was returned to her husband, we see them get into bed, both in pajamas. Her husband puts his hand under the sheet and demands to know if "he touched you there." Our assumption is that he's asking if she's had sex with Sun-hwa. Why this deserved an R is a mystery to me.

This movie is deep

[inoveck · 10/10 · 1 May 2005]

I've never submitted a comment to this or any other forum about film. But, I was so taken by this movie and was searching for others who enjoyed it as much as I and my friends did, that I felt the need to comment here.

As my friends and I walked out of the theatre, we not only talked about the imagery and the lack of sound (which make it unusual), but we tried to decipher it. There is so much to this film. The story leaves clues...to the point that you wonder in the end whether one or both of the characters ever existed. Are they just part of a character's imagination?

POTENTIAL SPOILERS HERE SO THESE ARE QUESTIONS FOR PEOPLE WHO SAW THE FILM

When the woman, Lee Seung-yeon, slaps her abusive husband back, isn't that just a lesson learned from the boxer (who fought back too)? When she seeks solace from the traditional couple, isn't that a wish acquired from having been in their warm house? It is as if each place visited, held a clue for her to make her way back to normalcy. Even her solution -- to create a phantom lover and to say sincerely "I love you" to SOMEONE, is the only way to see a way out of her predicament. Her picture was at one point turned into a kind of puzzle and it became progressively normal (in the photographer's house). The only thing I haven't figured out is why both characters weighed 0 at the end. I was looking for her weight alone. But this film is great because it gets you on so many different levels.

Arty yet involving

[phd_travel · 7/10 · 17 May 2020]

This arty film has some interesting things that keep the viewer quite involved. The guy breaks into empty houses. That is quite tense. He rescues a battered woman from her abusive husband and then they move around other homes. Creative story. Kept me glued to find out what would happen.

Don't watch.

[Shuvo-the-user · 3/10 · 17 May 2020]

Not even worth of watching. Don't waste your 1.3 hour by watching this movie.