Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Internationally acclaimed Korean writer-director Ki-duk Kim (SPRING, SUMMER, FALL, WINTER... AND SPRING) has created a masterful, wholly original drama with 3-IRON, which follows the trials and tribulations of an odd young man, Tae-suk (Hee Jae), who spends his days putting flyers on people's doors just so he can check who hasn't taken them down after a day or two; believing those families to be away, he breaks into their homes and settles in for a while, cooking, cleaning, watching television, and sleeping, all done with an intoxicating charm. But one day he is caught by a troubled young woman, Sun-hwa (Seung-yeon Lee), whose husband, Min-kyu (Hyuk-ho Kwon), abuses her mentally and physically; when the husband returns home, Tae-suk uses the man's 3-iron to hit golf balls at him. Sun-hwa then goes off with Tae-suk, joining him on his journey to empty houses, where they pretend to be part of the vacationing family. But when they walk into an apartment and find a man dead, their world changes despite their attempts to protect it. It's at that point that director Kim really starts having fun. 3-IRON is an intense, enjoyable, mystical film filled with subtlety and tenderness. That is especially surprising since the two main characters, who find solace in each other's company, never speak a word.
"The movie camera is able to make the impossible look natural and the ordinary seem strange....Mr. Kim is a master of such estrangement, and 3-IRON is a teasing, self-conscious and curiously heartfelt demonstration of his mischievous formal ingenuity." - A. O., Scott (New York Times Critic), New York Times, 04/29/2005
"Alternately witty, caustic, tender and endlessly imaginative and unpredictable, this latest film from one of Korea's most idiosyncratic and prolific directors is as confident as its resourceful hero, Tae-suk." - Kevin, Thomas (Film critic), Los Angeles Times, 04/29/2005
"3-IRON is like a Raymond Carver story that slowly, inexorably takes on the dimensions of a ghostly fairy tale." - Owen, Gleiberman (Entertainment Weekly Critic), Entertainment Weekly, 05/13/2005
"[T]his offbeat little charmer ends with a reality-blurring supernatural twist that hangs in the air like a kiss." - Stephen, Dalton (Uncut Critic), Uncut, 08/01/2005
"[T]his multi-layered love story rings true with sweetness..." - Marie, Iida (Premiere Critic), Premiere, 10/01/2005
"[A] deliberately paced, hypnotic drama....[With] a beguiling effect." - Matthew, Leyland (Film Critic), Sight and Sound, 03/01/2006