3 Iron

Recently, I read an article in the New York Times about a Korean singer/actor who intends to take America by storm, and according to the article, has the entire philosophy of being Korean,hallyu behind him. Now there's nothing wrong with a little nationalism, but what I found amusing about the article is that there seemed to be a complete lack of recognition for other Asian stars who have developed fan bases in America. The singer/actor who goes by the name Rain and who sings a song with the same title (branding at its finest!), said that he wants to be the first Asian star to make it big in America. Well, he won't be the first depending on how you define "big", but if he means to be the first to hit #1 on the charts, he might have a point. But that just opens a whole new can of worms, I can just imagine the music geeks asking, "Which charts?"

It just so happens that I read about a Korean serial called Full House on another blog (a site I innocently thought was a site about battling stress) and about how much the blogger detests the romantic crap in the show. It was at about that time that I also read the article in NYT. I realized that this Rain dude was one of the stars of the show. Even though the Fstress hates Full House (in a loving kind of way), I kinda wanted to see it. I checked it out at imdb, but couldn't find any details. So... I went to the video shop to see if they knew anything, and left with something not so completely different.

One time at the video shop not so long ago, I saw a box cover with what looked like two guys trying to kiss with a woman standing between them. The title was 3 Iron. Mistaking it for a romcom, I read the description on the box cover and decided that it wasn't worth watching. I e-mailed a friend in Seoul about the film and she said that she had never heard of the film. That confirmed it, this film would have to wait. Well, so much for liner descriptions.

A few weeks ago, I started to hear a buzz about this movie. It played at Sundance or something and got some attention. Alison and I went out for indian and since the restaurant is two doors away from the video shop, we decided to pick up a movie. She let me choose, so I grabbed 3 Iron. We listened to the director's comments for the first few minutes while there was no dialogue. The director said that the movie was among other things, meant to show different types of architecture in Korea. Now that's my type of movie. Yumi would have liked it too, but though there were different types of architecture, there was nothing really mindblowing, just different types of cookie-cutter developments - some high density, some suburban.

As it happens, the two main characters don't say a word in the entire film until the last scene according to imdb, but I'm sure they are silent through the entire film. It turns out that this film (or its director) won a bunch of awards at the Venice Film Festival, and it was much deserved. There is some sadistic violence in the film, and apparently some nudity but I don't remember seeing any. It's a pretty good movie, even though the context is kinda lame. A dude who kinda reminds me of Hank, enters vacant homes and stays for as long as it takes him to get bored. He fixes stuff, or changes the way some things work in the house like clocks and scales. In one of the homes he thinks is vacant, he is discovered by an abused wife. He ditches the place, but goes back to stay with the wife, whose husband is away on a business trip. She decides to take off with the guy and they travel around staying in vacant homes. The plot is meant to show this guy as a master burglar, but he is caught not once, but three times at least. The first time, by the wife, the second time he is caught by a boxer who beats the snot out of him, and the third time they are caught by the relatives of the person whose flat they are squatting in. The tenant was discovered dead and when the relatives call, the burglar answers the phone but doesn't say anything. So naturally, the relatives come by to check up on grandpa and instead they find a strange man and woman eating jap che or something in the flat. The police come and are lead to a shallow grave where the tenant is buried, but the burglar is released because he never actually stole anything and the body was buried correctly. Well, he's let go but he's not set free. Instead, the senior officer takes a payoff and the prisoner is left in the hands of the woman's husband who starts to torture him with a 3-iron and some golf balls. The burglar is then committed to an asylum because well, for no specific reason, and the woman is released into the custody of her husband. And then the movie gets all philosophical.

Is he there, or is he not? Is someone standing behind you not there just because you can't see them? Is someone really living in your house when you're away just because you don't see them? After some cat and mouse with the asylum guard, the burglar escapes and begins mindfucking the people that (defended their property, did their job) crossed him in his game. She travels to the places she visited with the boyfriend, and I guess she decides what she really wants. He eventually finds his way back to the woman's home, and moves himself in. Everybody is happy. The husband is happy because he has his good little wife, and the wife is happy because she has her boyfriend, and the boyfriend is happy because he has his little game and his girlfriend too.