re:mote voices

Title: 3-Iron [Bin-Jip]
Cast: Seung-yeon Lee, Hyun-kyoon Lee, Hyuk-ho Kwon, Jin-mo Ju, Jeong-ho Choi
Director: Kim Ki-duk

A man spends each morning taping take away menus to doors. Each night he returns, and if the menu has not been removed then the house is empty. So he breaks in, feeds himself, does his washing, finds something to fix, and stays the night. And so on.

One day he enters a house and goes through his routine. Not realising that in fact the house is not empty. A battered wife has been hiding in her bedroom, and follows this stranger who has entered her house. From room to room, silently observing his daily rituals.

In a meditative fashion 3-Iron follows the relationship that forms between the two. As with other Kim Ki-Duk films 3-Iron is sparse. The film has been going for several minutes before we have any dialogue at all, with the question for most of the film being whether we will hear a single word from either of the leads before the end.

With this Kim Ki-Duk relies on his actor’s ability to perform, to demonstrate mood through expression. Something that was just as evident in Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter... And Spring Again and The Isle. Location wise, 3-Iron is more urban than those 2 films – all set in a series of different flats, in some way offering a series of snapshots of Korean culture. Though he does manage to get an inner city lake in there, so that the greens and water recall those previous films, and that kind of image he does so well.

Those previous films by Kim Ki-Duk that have had UK distribution so far have had some problems. Both Spring and The Isle having elements of animal cruelty, with Korea and Korean cinema having different standards on this matter. Perhaps because 3-Iron has a more urban setting it doesn’t have the same problem; though that didn’t count with a film like Old Boy.

For me 3-Iron is the most enjoyable piece I have seen by Kim Ki-Duk. The balance of enigmatic characters and moody drama stand out. There are a number of memorable scenes – the woman’s treatment of her photograph, the man’s shadow dance, the way the pair interact. With Kim Ki-Duk you tend not to know what to expect throughout, with 3-Iron he gets in his shocks, his twists, his way of providing a wilfully unique film.