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3-Iron

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3-Iron (2005)

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Reviews Counted:24

Fresh:19

Rotten:5

Average Rating:7.2/10

Consensus: A tender and moving romance from Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... And Spring's director Kim Ki-Duk.

Rated: R [See Full Rating] for some sexual content.

Runtime: 1 hr 35 mins

Genre: Foreign Films

Theatrical Release:Apr 29, 2005 Limited

Box Office: $167,892

Synopsis: Tae-suk (JAE Hee) drifts around on his motorcycle looking for empty houses to stay in. He goes from door to door and puts up flyers in the keyholes of each house. He later breaks into the house... Tae-suk (JAE Hee) drifts around on his motorcycle looking for empty houses to stay in. He goes from door to door and puts up flyers in the keyholes of each house. He later breaks into the house where the flyer has not been removed, assuming that the owner is away. Tae-suk lives in the empty house until the owners return, but never steals or ruins anything. He simply guards the houses for a few days, fixing broken items, and even does the owners’ laundry. Before leaving, he puts everything back as it used be. One day, sneaking into a wealthy home, Tae-suk meets his destiny – a married woman named Sun-hwa (LEE Seung-yeon) who has been tormented by her abusive husband. While Tae-suk sneaks around the house, Sun-hwa hides in the dark and silently watches him. At first she's afraid of him, but when she sees him fixing a broken scale, she realizes he's not a thief and continues to observe him. That same night, Tae-suk wakes up suddenly to find Sun-hwa staring at him. He runs out, but the phone rings suddenly. It's Sun-hwa's husband. Tae-suk overhears their conversation and realizes that Sun-hwa has an unhappy marriage and life. Sun-hwa looks silently at him as if she is begging for him to save her. Tae-suk however, turns away and walks out. Tae-suk can't stop thinking about Sun-hwa's imploring eyes. The more he tries to forget about her, the more vivid the images of Sun-hwa become in his mind. Taesuk sneaks into her home again, and watches her in silence. After watching her for a while, Tae-suk turns on music to soothe her soul. He prepares clothes for her while she's in her bath. Sun-hwa senses that Tae-suk has come back for her and starts to feel comfortable. But her comfort turns sour after her husband comes home and tries to force her into having sex. Tae-suk is enraged. He grabs a 3 iron and swings it at golf balls on the ground. The balls strike her husband several times and he collapses. Tae-suk then runs away with Sun-hwa. Together, Tae-suk and Sun-hwa stick flyers onto doors and enter empty houses together. In every home they break into, Tae-suk continues to cook, do chores, and fix broken items. For the first time ever, Sun-hwa feels the real comfort of a home. Tae-suk sees that she is able to smile again, and the two ultimately fall in love with each other. One day, as they enter a house, they discover the dead body of an old man. Taesuk and Sun-hwa bury the body in a respectful ritual, and begin living in the old man's house as if it was their own. Their happy days come to an end when the old man's son makes a surprise visit. He calls the police and they take Tae-suk and Sun-hwa away. Tae-suk is charged with murder, trespassing, and kidnapping, while Sun-hwa is unwillingly brought back to her husband. Sun-hwa lives in hope for the day of Tae-suk’s release. But while in prison, Tae-suk finds a secret way to bring back the joys he and Sun-hwa once had... © -- Sony Pictures Classics [More]

Starring: Seung-yeon Lee, Hee Jae, Hyuk-ho Kwon, Jin-mo Joo

Starring: Seung-yeon Lee, Hee Jae, Hyuk-ho Kwon, Jin-mo Joo, Jeong-ho Choi, Joo-suk Lee, Sung-hyuk Moon, Jee-ah Park, Jae-yong Jang, Dah-hae Lee

Director: Kim Ki-Duk

Director: Kim Ki-Duk
Screenwriter: Ki-Duk Kim
Producer: Ki-Duk Kim
Composer: Slvian
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics

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Release:

Sep 6, 2005

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for 3-Iron

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
08/30/05
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

What is so engaging about the film is the way its director, Ki-duk Kim, manages to keep our interest intensely focused on the couple.

Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
06/16/05
Richard Nilsen
Richard Nilsen
Arizona Republic
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A movie meant to be taken on faith more than anything else. The more you can grant it, the greater the reward.

Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | comment Comment
06/04/05
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It's actually quite satisfying, in a weird, magical-realism sort of way that manages to disturb and confound as much as it appeases the romantic.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
05/20/05
Michael O'Sullivan
Michael O'Sullivan
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Kim works with the barest of materials but returns the viewer's attention to the pure visual pleasure of filmmaking.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
05/20/05
Philip Kennicott
Philip Kennicott
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Moves from a strangely spiritual reality to a really strange spirituality -- and leaves its best parts behind.

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
05/20/05
Geoff Pevere
Geoff Pevere
Toronto Star
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A mesmerizing, offbeat, violent, playful yet serious parable.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Inquirer | comment Comment
05/20/05
Carrie Rickey
Carrie Rickey
Philadelphia Inquirer
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What is meant to be profoundly puzzling can start to seem just theatrically silly.

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
05/20/05
Rick Groen
Rick Groen
Globe and Mail
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3-Iron may not be a horror movie, but it is still haunting.

Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press | comment Comment
05/20/05
John Monaghan
John Monaghan
Detroit Free Press
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This enigmatic and in some ways maddening motion picture has the power to haunt every viewer it reaches.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
05/19/05
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews
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Here is where things get murky, intriguingly so.

Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
05/13/05
Eric Harrison
Eric Harrison
Houston Chronicle
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Seems more ghostly than ghastly, a movie with a life all its own.

Full Review Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News | comment Comment
05/13/05
Robert Denerstein
Robert Denerstein
Denver Rocky Mountain News
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A lyrical, sporadically violent tale of love on the run that gradually turns into something spooky, poetic and disarmingly gentle.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
05/13/05
Michael Wilmington
Michael Wilmington
Chicago Tribune
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A hypnotic, almost wordless love story about transience physical and spiritual.

Full Review Source: Dallas Morning News | comment Comment
05/12/05
Chris Vognar
Chris Vognar
Dallas Morning News
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An uncanny spiritual exploration of the unlikeliest of great loves.

Full Review Source: New York Observer | comment Comment
05/12/05
Andrew Sarris
Andrew Sarris
New York Observer
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

For all its pretense, 3-Iron is never pretentious and is so beautiful to look at.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
05/06/05
Ruthe Stein
Ruthe Stein
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

3-Iron is a romance of tenderness and increasingly poignant silence.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
05/06/05
Ty Burr
Ty Burr
Boston Globe
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It takes talent to entice an audience without any dialogue. In the case of South Korea's Kim Ki-Duk, he's not just good at silence; his oddball artistry depends on it.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
05/04/05
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman
Entertainment Weekly
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Raises questions that are more frustrating than provocative.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
04/29/05
Jack Mathews
Jack Mathews
New York Daily News
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Kim's wittiest effort to date, with a wordless performance by Jae Hee that recalls Keaton and Chaplin.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
04/29/05
V.A. Musetto
V.A. Musetto
New York Post
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