Editorial Review:

Description:
Mysterious drifter Tae-suk enters other peoples' lives as easily as he breaks into their unoccupied homes. Instead of stealing their riches, he repays his hosts' unknowing hospitality by fixing broken items, cleaning up, even doing their laundry. But when he sneaks into a sprawling mansion, he discovers a beautiful, lonely wife named Sun-hwa, trapped in a loveless marriage. Without saying a word, the pair begin an erotic game of cat-and-mouse, until her abusive husband returns home, unleashing a shocking burst of violence. Tae-suk defends Sun-hwa with the aid of her husband's golf club. The lovers run away together finding domestic bliss inhabiting strangers' homes. Later, when Tae-suk is framed for a murder, even prison walls can't keep them apart for good.

Amazon.com:
Words really do get in the way in 3-Iron, a strange, poignant South Korean film from director Kim Ki-Duk (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring) in which the central character doesn't utter a single word. It's not explained why the puck never speaks, but it adds an element of mysticism to this love story that's at once humorous and disturbing. In this case, the knight in shining armor, Tae-Suk (Hee Jae) is a vagabond who supports himself by breaking into people's homes when they're on vacation. But rather than steal possessions, he cooks himself a meal, carefully washes the dishes, takes a bath, does their laundry, fixes anything broken, sleeps in their pajamas, and leaves each home spic and span. One day he trespasses on the home of a battered wife (Seung-yon Lee) who's still home. Fascinated, she leaves her husband and joins in his adventures, until one of their random break-ins gets them in trouble and the couple is forced apart.

Adding in a reliance on some stunning visuals, 3-Iron does a good job filling itself out in a non-implicit way. In this case, compliments and banter aren't needed to tell you that the pair has found a bond that no one can wrest away from them. The ending may tickle suspended reality (it's either becoming supernatural or someone's a lot more nimble than we thought), but it's still a poetic conclusion to this twisted fairy tale. --Ellen A. Kim

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It takes you sometime before you realize that the two main characters in the movie have no dialogue at all. The story is told only by the supporting cast who speak. The strength of the movie comes also from the fact that they have used the actors to convey their feelings only through actions so it leaves a lot to imagination. Watch the movie for the cinematic experience and also for the different story. Couple of scenes are very different and leave a mark. For example one of my favorite scenes is one in which Tae Suk goes into a photographers house and reorganizes a picture to add his artistic bit. Typical Kim Ki-duk kind of direction which has a lot of symbolism. Evening after office type watch

Average Rating:

Rating: - Very creative movie
check out [...] for details
It takes you sometime before you realize that the two main characters in the movie have no dialogue at all. The story is told only by the supporting cast who speak. The strength of the movie comes also from the fact that they have used the actors to convey their feelings only through actions so it leaves a lot to imagination. Watch the movie for the cinematic experience and also for the different story. Couple of scenes are very different and leave a mark. For example one of my favorite scenes is one in which Tae Suk goes into a photographers house and reorganizes a picture to add his artistic bit. Typical Kim Ki-duk kind of direction which has a lot of symbolism. Evening after office type watch

Rating: - the genius of non stop silence
to use a lot of words in a review of this film would do the film a disservice

the young man in this story is a tad bit immoral - he steals into homes of vacationers to eat and sleep - evidently without tarnishing his kharma - even the sin of an accident he causes can be washed away with a very few tears

one time - he meets a woman with a freshly bruised face - who escapes her brutal husband by joining him in his meandering lifestyle - the connection of this appealing couple is so tender that spoken words arent necessary - and their sexual restraint only intensifies the air of eroticism

i suppose aiding this extremely attractive woman enhances his kharma - as does the repair of the broken cd player - even tho he does it for his own purposes - hopefully - the behavior presented doesnt represent buddhist ethics

aside from that - this is an unusually affecting love story - with buddhist metaphor used to good effect

nothing in this film is rushed - nothing in this film is quite predictable - least of all - the ending

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Rating: - Thirty-five Amazon reviews as I write this, and NO ONE gets it.
Here's EXACTLY what you need to know about 3-IRON before you watch it.

It's a Buddhist allegory. Period.

Amazon, as I write this, has 35 generally well-intentioned reviews, but none of them addresses the TRUE essence of this film. And somewhere, Kim Ki-duk just quietly smiles, knowing that virtually no one, even professional critics, understood what he was trying to say, even if they adored the final result. Reviewers who don't understand the film's theme (which IS concrete) but still love the film itself practically fall over themselves coming up with elaborate ways to describe what it's "really" about--or that it's "deep" or full of "hidden meaning"--in order to dance around the fact that they just didn't get it. Those who dislike or hate it inevitably cry that it "didn't make sense".

But it does make sense. If you're a Buddhist. And anyone familiar with the work of Kim Ki-duk should know that he loads many of his films with Buddhist significance.

There are three stages to enlightenment in Buddhism. The following is a gross simplification on my part, but it should make it extremely easy to see the three stages as they're illustrated in the film.

1) IMPERMANENCE: there is no "self" to cling to; existence is impermanent; and desire leads to suffering. Understanding this allows one to achieve detachment and make desire extinct. ALL OF THIS describes the first portion of 3-IRON.

2) TRANQUILITY AND INSIGHT THROUGH MEDITATION: one must build up a sense of the "non-self" through meditation. This is what the lead character does during his time in prison. No prison guard in the real world would be that susceptible to Tae-Suk's little games, but because this is ALLEGORY, the guard becomes the litmus strip by which Tae-Suk measures his ability to become invisible with the world around him. Once he's released, he tests this further by revisiting the homes he previously broke into, only this time with the residents inside.

3) NIRVANA: Impurities are eliminated. Purity and pleasantness remain. The "walls" that separate the (artificial) individuality of the self from the totality of Being are torn down, not unlike the walls of a house. Thus the film's Korean title translation as "Empty House", which describes so much more than the simple constructs this young man breaks into. Likewise, once Tae-Suk has achieved a certain one-ness, or non-ness, he can effectively hide in plain sight, much to the delight of the reinvigorated Sun-Hwa, who now realizes she can tolerate her scuzzball husband (and be the wife he clearly expects her to be) because her lover will always be part of the universe in which she lives. Physically, he's still there (and very much alive, contrary to what some reviewers would have you believe because they just don't see the subtext), but he's achieved his own brand of Nirvana. He no longer needs to desire this woman and fear the suffering her husband is capable of inflicting, because he can be with her all the time right under the villain's nose. Thus, they've both achieved Nirvana (don't forget, she follows him on his path to enlightenment). It may not be the conventional method, and it may require tinkering with a bathroom scale to reinforce what they believe they've done, but in essence, that's exactly what they've done.

Some people might try to argue something along the lines of "well, if the husband turned around real quick, he'd see the guy" but because this is an ALLEGORY, that will never happen.

So don't listen to those people.

You may now watch (or rewatch) 3-IRON with an enlightened mind.

You're welcome.

(p.s. I'm not a Buddhist. Religion is a galactic waste of time. I just like allegorical filmmaking that doesn't punch me in the face.

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Rating: - Love It!
The beauty of a love story without words... This is now my favorite movie!

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Rating: - Not your typical Hollywood love story.
3-Iron is for people who love a good love story, but find most of the stuff Hollywood cranks out to be trite, cloying, or even downright nauseating. (Yes Hugh Grant--This means you.)
The tale of a man who is more or less homeless. He breaks into peoples homes when they're away and makes himself at home. He repays them by doing laundry and fixing things about the place. Then one day, he discovers he isn't alone in one of the homes.
One of the most impressive things about this movie is the almost complete lack of dialog by the two leading actors. One of them has a couple of lines, and only one of them is spoken between them. It's a quiet quirky movie and in the end takes on a quality of almost magical realism. (I can't believe I just said 'Magical Realism'. I can't stand that phrase. It's just an invention of literary snobs who can't bring themselves to say fantasy. Sorry got sidetracked there.)
A great deal is revealed about the two lovers with very few details, and their journey together often runs astray of those they encounter, but in the end they find their own sort of happiness, unconventional as it may be.

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