3-Iron (2004)

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Absolutely Brilliant!

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

A young man has a habit of breaking into other people's home while they're away on vacations, business trips and things like that. He eats their food, watches their TV, wears their clothes, washes their laundry as a thank you. All that jazz. But one day he miscalculates and comes across a young woman, who has been abandoned to their home by an abusive husband. A silent romance ignites between them and when he flees for the next home, she follows.The director Kim Ki-duk's strong touch can be felt throughout the film. It was a bold move to make this almost a silent film. The main character never speaks and even the main female character only say a few words. But it's still a sweet, if unconventional love story. Even perhaps even sweeter because of the silence. They have to learn to trust one another through gestures and actions, and we have to learn to love them through that as well.If I had to nitpick, I'd say that the final third is not quite as strong as the rest of the film. It's still good, but something about it doesn't jive quite as well. Perhaps because it's the part where she finally speaks and I was kind of hoping that they'd both remain silent to the end.Nevertheless, it's a fascinating, well-made film with an interesting premise and a really good executions. Definitely one of my favourites from Ki-duk.

Tae-suk is not your typical breaking and entering burglar. He is a silent and in his own way, eloquent, gentleman who drifts between vacant houses, cleaning up after himself, doing repairs and house maintenance for his unassuming hosts. After stumbling upon an abused housewife, whose once captivating beauty has been reduced to scars and bruises, he rescues her from her isolation and shows her his world.What is notable about this film is that the two ethereal protagonists do not speak a word to each other throughout the entire film, except for two phrases by the female near the end. Yet, their silence is compelling and through facial expressions and actions, they tell a very passionate story of love that is open to interpretation and will keep you wanting to watch more. I am thoroughly impressed by this film. Loved the original concept.

THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS.Overall I enjoyed this film. Though it was full of absurd things, it somehow remained incredibly serious. In fact looking back on what I just watched, it seems a lot more interesting. *spoiler*How original is it to make golfing the weapon? As far as weaponry goes, I would have expected the golf club to be used as a baseball bat, but no, it was never like that at all. The golf club was almost less important than the golf balls. That's just one of the reasons this film surprised me. *spoiler*I can not get over the fact that whenever the movie got serious between the main character and his love interest, the main character would play this one certain song from a cd he kept with him at all time, on the nearest cd player. That was over the top to me. Like a song alerting you "This is the climax" over and over.this isn't a movie you can grasp, it's just kind of one giant confusing mash up of sneaky self righteous people doing sneaky things and getting hurt. Several things happen that are in no way linked to any feasible plot, but seem deep at the time, the last few words at the end of the movie attempt to draw a connection between what the heck you just saw and something deeper, but I'm not convinced.It kept my mind busy and I don't know why.

The main concept of this movie is already a pretty weird and original one to begin with. It's not the sort of stuff you would normally come up with, when trying to write and create a movie. The main concept itself doesn't sound all that compelling but it's more the execution and the originality of it all that makes this a great watch.So here is the concept; A young man travels from house to house and stays at people's homes while they are away on vacation or out of town for a couple of days. While he is at their homes he cleans and fixes stuff, takes some pictures and then gets out again, when the residents return. Who comes up with this sort of stuff? Ki-duk Kim does apparently!But it's being all strangely compelling and entertaining. It's pretty simplistic and small with all of the stuff it does but this actually makes the movie kind of a sweet movie to watch.Especially when the unusual love story kicks in, between the main character and an abused wife. What is all the more special and unusual about it is that not one of them says a single word during this entire movie. Other characters speak but never its two main characters, which fortunately does not become just a gimmick for the movie but actually adds to its story and overall way of storytelling.It's an unusual movie but never a pretentious or over artistic one. It's a perfectly accessible movie to watch, for just about everybody. Granted that its second half is not really up to par with its first and things can get a bit too odd at times but overall this doesn't take anything away from the overall movie experience, which was something entertaining and refreshing.The movie is not a comedy but it still has some strangely comical moments in it, which mostly comes from the movie its absurdity. This is something that works really pleasant for the movie and makes this a rather nice and easy watch.Especially for the lovers of Asian cinema, this is an absolute must-see!8/10 http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/