3-Iron and the Nature of Reality

In a previous post I discussed how much I enjoyed the 2003 Korean film Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring directed by Ki-duk Kim. It struck me so much, I had to try another. 3-Iron (Bin-jip) was no disappointment.

The beginning of this film is anything but fantastical. A young man rides from house to house on his motorbike, sticking advertisements for a restaurant to residents' doors. We quickly learn that Tae-Suk isn't working for a restaurant, but using these flyers as a way to tell whether or not people are home, or away on vacation. When he finds one of his flyers left on the front door for several days, he knows it's safe to pick the lock, and let himself inside. As far as Tae-Suk is concerned, he's not doing anything wrong. He's homeless, and all he wants is a bath, a meal, and a place to spend the night. He makes a point of doing something nice for the people while he's using their pad- watering the plants, doing the laundry, fixing a broken clock. Those who return usually don't even notice he was there, and he he never steals more than some leftovers from the fridge.

Tae-Suk's seemingly harmless existence incurs its first genuine act of crime when he discovers something extraordinarily valuable left abandoned in a wealthy man's home- the man's wife. There is no question this young wife has been badly abused by her husband. She's covered in bruises and blood, and when her husband telephones she screams. When Tae-Suk is surprised by the arrival of the abused woman's husband, he exacts revenge on the husband, beating him by driving golf balls into his gut until he crumples. Tae-Suk flees the house, taking the young wife with him. The young woman is initiated to Tae-Suk's way of life, but the karmic consequences of what Tae-Suk has done to her husband haunt their shyly blossoming love.

As these consequences grow darker, Tae-Suk learns the cost of his way of life and his love for the young woman. He combats his problems in a unique way that brings us into the realm of the speculative. An event quite near the end of the film could have two possible consequences. Not only does the denouement allow room for both of these outcomes to have occurred, it calls into question the reality of all the events that happened previously.

I loved this film. The details of each home or apartment Tae-Suk enters opens into the private world of fully-developed characters. The detail and touchable, almost smellable reality experienced by the viewer make the ambiguity of the ending hit home, causing a lurch as we question what is real, and what is not.