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DVD 3 Iron
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
If you appreciate elegance, depth, and keen intelligence in a ghost story, don't miss 3-Iron. Oh, it's a ghost story, all right, a ghost story from start to finish, painfully romantic and simultaneously quite erotic but neither sentimental nor vulgar at any time, spooky in the best possible sense, not in the clumsy, overt, ham-fisted fashion of the usual U.S.-made ghost story but, rather, spooky in the sense of haunting, resonant, elusive, shivery.
It's too bad that the other reviewers here felt the need to include so many plot spoilers in their comments because 3-Iron deserves the opportunity to unfold its mysteries to the viewer in its own unique way, a way I've never seen before in a ghost story on film. I keep calling it a ghost story because that's what I believe 3-Iron to be above all else and how I feel it would be best approached for maximum enjoyment and comprehension.
Speaking of hauntingly elegant, I couldn't keep my eyes off the lead male actor in 3-Iron. His ethereal beauty and grace lend him the ghostly charisma that anchors and informs this story, a grand love story that doesn't necessarily take place anywhere except in the mind and heart of a desperate woman who yearns for the appearance of a savior in her life to transport her beyond the confines of her gilded cage, but you be the judge of what's "real" in 3-Iron and what's not, or, better yet, don't bother with such trivia and just let this magnificent ghost story sweep you away.
Quite weird but has some tender moments
The main character of this movie does not utter a single word. He is a "gentle" criminal, one that does not burglarize houses for acquiring property but in order to acquire a feeling of home. Tae - Suk has a special method for breaking into houses: during the morning hours he puts flyers on key locks, then comes around later in the day to check which flyers were not touched. Now he knows which house to expertly break into. He immediately "feels at home" uses the bath tub and wears the clothes of the owners. Then he cooks himself a good meal and watches television. He likes to mend some out of work electronic device and to wash (by hand) the owners dirty clothes. He leaves the house clean as if untouched and proceeds on to the next day.
This is an unusual film, almost with no dialog that starts in a realistic manner and turns somewhat unrealistic (or spiritual if you may) towards the end. This movie will not appeal to every taste. Out of the people who saw this movie with me, one remained untouched, one hated every minute, called the movie "pretentious" and claimed that being a Korean movie is the only reason for the critics admiration. The other two were quite ambivalent, as felt in spite of this being no regular film, it had a lot to offer. One cannot deny that the movie has many tender moments, some of them have to do with the relations between the two main characters who do not need words in order to communicate and to know exactly what the other needs; Another aspect is Tae - Suk "Zelig" nature who seems to adopt, for a few hours, the lives and likes of the house owners. Examples of this can be found in his watching boxing films in the house of a boxer or ceremoniously preparing tea in a small spiritual house with a beautiful garden.
The film moves between characters and different life styles, as through the houses we know the owners and can tell which lives are full or empty. The heroine, an unhappy creature lives in a golden cage. Her house is one of the best looking in the movie, but she, nevertheless, is a miserable beaten woman. She joins Tae Suk (without words) to his daily house travels. Among other statements, the movie seems to say that a nice house is no indication of happiness. In fact, I think there is a clear agreement that the "happiest" house is the "spiritual" house whose owners constantly tend to their garden and kindly talk to each other. This is the house where the heroine comes to sleep in peace and the owners are kind enough to allow it. It seems that the movie seems to want to rise, just like his hero, above earthy needs and to claim that a feeling of home can be achieved from somewhere within.
Other signs of spirituality can be found in Tae - Suk constant cleaning and rhythmical washing of clothes. This seems like a funny, weird act but I felt this is enjoyed by him as an act of purification.
The last part of the movie seems to find unrealistic solutions to the complicated story, as Tae Suk blends his life in the life of his love.
Weird, but interesting and there are ideas and sights in his movie that remain with you.
Great Korean film
One of the more talented Korean directors working today is Kim-ki Duk whose latest film 3-Iron, was released this year (2005) here in the US and is out on DVD domestically in September. This is the tale of a young guy--nameless-who makes a meager living as a distributor of promo flyers for an eating establishment and also has the habit of breaking into the homes of people who are away so he can eat their food and maybe take a nap. But he's not completely malicious; one of his great virtues is the ability to clean clothes by hand.
One such house he breaks into is that of a middle-aged man with a young wife who's been mistreated. As he goes about his gentle intruder business he doesn't realize, at first, that the wife is right there in the house with him, although her husband is not. It's obvious from her appearance that she's been recently roughed up. She watches him fascinated and finally makes her presence known.
The two of them hook up with each other almost immediately and as one thing leads to another, the convergence of the spurned husband, an angry cop, an angrier prison guard, and the two lovers--along with the game of golf (from which the film derives its title) results in a unique film that, although almost 70% dialogue free, is a really compelling love story.
There's a sequence in a prison cell with the male lead that is truly imaginative, absorbing, even compelling. And the device of the scale being modified (our protagonist is also an expert at "fixing" things) is very clever, especially as shown at the very end of the film when the lovers stand on the scale together and the combined weight is somewhat less than it should be.
Both lovers have the innate (and eventually overt) ability to be "ghost people"; this contrasts with the middle-aged husband's rude, crude persona, as it does with that of the cop and the prison guard. The implication of this, interestingly enough, is that the finer emotions--love, true feeling, compassion--are those experienced by people who are maybe not completely in the world but just outside of it, while those who are very much of this world express themselves roughly, crudely, angrily, making the world what we unfortunately expect it to be rather than what we know it CAN be.
This is a brilliant film and should be seen by a much wider audience. Very highly recommended.
In the realm of revenge thrillers, you'd be hard pressed to find more ultra-violent vengeance and psycho thrills than in the creepy story of Oldboy. This Korean import made a pop splash at the Cannes Film Festival and during its limited theatrical run thanks to the imprimatur of Quentin Tarantino, who raved about it and its visionary director, Chan-wook Park, to anyone who would listen. It's easy to see why QT fell in love with the grindhouse attitude, fast-paced action, violent imagery, and icy-black humor, but it's a disservice to think of Oldboy as another Tarantino homage or knockoff. The darkly existential undercurrent in the themes that Oldboy traces over its life-long narrative arc is much more complex and deeply disturbing than anything of its kind. The... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Min-sik Choi - Ji-tae Yu - Hye-jeong Kang Director(s): Chan-wook Park DVD Release Date: Released the 23 August 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Working miracles with only a single set and a handful of characters, Korean director Kim Ki-Duk creates a wise little gem of a movie. As the title suggests, the action takes place in five distinct episodes, but sometimes many years separate the seasons. The setting is a floating monastery in a pristine mountain lake, where an elderly monk teaches a boy the lessons of life--although when the boy grows to manhood, he inevitably must learn a few hard lessons for himself. By the time the story reaches its final sections, you realize you have witnessed the arc of existence--not one person's life, but everyone's. It's as enchanting as a Buddhist fable, but it's not precious; Kim (maker of the notorious The Isle) consistently surprises you with a sex scene or an explosion of black comedy;... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Ki-duk Kim (II) - Yeong-su Oh (II) - Jong-ho Kim (II) Director(s): Ki-duk Kim (II) DVD Release Date: Released the 07 September 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Nobody Knows, an extraordinary film from Japanese director Kore-Eda Hirokazu, is a heartbreaking and touching story about how selfish a single mother can be to her four children, and how resilient children can be. Kicked out of several apartments for her large brood, Keiko (Japanese pop star You) sneaks them in to a new one (two inside the suitcases) and goes over the house rules: No loud noises. They must stay hidden inside the apartment all day, every day. Only Akira, the oldest, leaves to do grocery shopping while she works. He also makes dinner while Keiko goes out on dates (implying to her children that she's looking for a rich husband so that they can all live in a big house together).
One of the most critically acclaimed films of 2005, Me and You and Everyone We Know is also one of the most original feature debuts you're ever likely to see. Winner of the Camera d'or Award for best first film at the Cannes Film Festival, it's an altogether charming display of talent for writer, director, and costar Miranda July, a performance artist making a promising transition to film. Her loose-knit tale of love and longing encompasses a large cast of quirky and memorable characters, foremost among them being Christine (July), a forlorn dreamer who falls in love with Richard (John Hawkes, from HBO's Deadwood), who's going through a traumatic divorce. Richard is desperate to be a good father to his seven- and 14-year-old sons, both of whom have experiences that push... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Miranda July DVD Release Date: Released the 11 October 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Movie studios, by and large, avoid controversial subjects like race the way you might avoid a hive of angry bees. So it's remarkable that Crash even got made; that it's a rich, intelligent, and moving exploration of the interlocking lives of a dozen Los Angeles residents--black, white, latino, Asian, and Persian--is downright amazing. A politically nervous district attorney (Brendan Fraser) and his high-strung wife (Sandra Bullock, biting into a welcome change of pace from Miss Congeniality) get car-jacked by an oddly sociological pair of young black men (Larenz Tate and Chris "Ludacris" Bridges); a rich black T.V. director (Terrence Howard) and his wife (Thandie Newton) get pulled over by a white racist cop (Matt Dillon) and his reluctant partner (Ryan Phillipe); a... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Paul Haggis DVD Release Date: Released the 06 September 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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