R | 1h 28m | Crime, Drama, Romance | 2005
When the film begins, we are introduced to Tae-suk (Hee Jae), a young drifter with an unusual modus operandi for daily survival. He rides around and attaches takeout food flyers to the doors of residences, and then returns for another sweep, later on, to see if they’ve been removed. If they haven’t, he assumes that the inhabitants have gone away for a while. He decides to “inhabit” a particular place, brings out his lockpicking kit, and breaks in.
Tae-suk isn’t your typical home invader. Instead of burglarizing the places he breaks into, he’ll wash the clothes of the residents, fix various items that aren’t working (such as clocks, radios, and bath scales), and water the plants. He takes selfies next to their family photos.
He never takes anything when he leaves. When the rightful residents return, they find that their lodgings are immaculate.
During the break-in of one upscale home, Tae-suk doesn’t notice that anyone is there. We, however, see a woman, Sun-hwa (Lee Seung-yun), with a battered face, huddled in a dark room. Tae-suk listens to an audible phone message of Sun-hwa’s husband Min-gyu (Hyuk-ho Kwon); it’s apparent that the husband is the physically abusive type.
Sun-hwa soon clandestinely watches Tae-suk as he goes about his usual home-mending duties. She realizes that, although he looks rough and tumble, he seems to have a tender side as well. He also is quite fond of her modeling pictures that adorn the walls. When she eventually reveals herself to him, he is unnerved, and leaves. However, he returns later since he’s concerned for her safety.
Their blooming connection is interrupted when Min-gyu suddenly returns home. A little altercation involving Tae-suk wielding a 3-iron golf club and some golf balls incapacitates Min-gyu, and Sun-hwa takes the opportunity to leave with the drifter on his motorcycle.
Tae-suk and Sun-hwa then embark on very unusual road trips, not just because she aids him in his subsequent break-ins, but they also communicate in utter silence. The deeply intuitive nature of their burgeoning relationship allows them to begin to heal one another’s wounded souls without saying a word.
While Tae-suk is on the fringes of society, the cause of Sun-hwa’s unhappiness is hinted at when Min-gyu mentions paying her family a large sum of money. In other words, it is inferred that she hails from a lower class than her husband.
The Magic of Silence
What I love about this film is how it begins as sort of a simple friends-turning-into-lovers tale, where the rough-hewn but good-hearted bad boy saves the damsel in distress, and they commence to fall in love as they travel the world together. Instead, since there is no dialogue between the two leads, you are forced to pay attention to their facial expressions, body language, and actions, such as when Sun-hwa offers her ramen noodles to a depressed Tae-suk.A little jarring at first, this non-verbal approach intensifies the visual narrative. But, by the end of the film, it was as if the main characters didn’t need words at all to communicate.
“3-Iron” was helmed by Kim Ki-duk, who also directed “Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter ... and Spring.” But that fact makes sense as it shares many of the same dreamlike qualities as that film, yet in different ways.
Although not everything is fully explained, “3-Iron” is a hauntingly beautiful love story with memorable performances by a fantastic cast (especially Hee Jae and Lee Seung-yun), and an intriguing storyline. It’s more of a contemplative exercise in cinema that invites one to interpret the film.
