A lot can be said for facial expression. Mannerisms, expressions, gestures, and actions can often say more than words can. Sitting down at a table with a couple you can instantly notice if they’re either happy and comfortable with one another, or completely out of love and hateful toward one another. What is it about silence and expression that’s so fascinating yet so under-appreciated? To prove the sad fact that this observation has gone utterly unnoticed, most acting is done through the eyes and the face. It’s why silent movies were huge, its why make up artists accentuated the eyes of actors during that era, and it’s why we’re so disconnected in this world. We follow one another by words, and never by mannerisms and expression.
The face can say much more than dialogue can, and with a wonderful actor, it can speak waves to the audience. Ki-Duk’s “3-Iron” is a quaint and utterly charming romance drama about the perception of dream and reality, and the eagerness for the miserable to live in normality. Is our life just one big illusion? Ki-Duk’s heart wrenching drama will leave audiences with numerous questions, particularly when you watch the last fifteen minutes. Is it all just one big dream? Can our misery bring about happiness that’s mere illusion? “3-Iron” commits to something that rarely any film does. It relies on its actors to push the film forward, when the plot really has no dimensions beyond a basic outline. It’s not an undermining of the writing, but merely the truth.
“3-Iron,” though, doesn’t require an elaborate story, because it’s merely a poetic, and sometimes uneasy romance involving two people so desperate for happiness, they’ll do anything to have it. Even if it means living other people’s lives. How does Ki-Duk’s film differ from every other director’s romantic vision? Simply because he displays great faith in his performers. The first ten minutes of “3-Iron” are filled with complete silence. Our main character Tae-Suk is silent, a man with no need for words, and he lives like a ghost.
He hangs fliers at different doors, and those that are left hanging for an amount of time, he breaks into the apartment or house, and makes himself at home. He eats, sleeps, fixes broken furniture, cleans the owner’s clothing, and leaves unseen or heard by anyone. One night after breaking into a lavish home, he continues his routine, unaware of the owner watching him. Instantly, they’re drawn to one another, and he saves her from an abusive husband. The two continue the routines together this time and they learn through silence, and comfort that they really do need one another, and awaken a sense of fulfillment and happiness the other didn’t know existed.
Hyun-kyoon Lee gives a wonderful performance centered around mostly silence, as this man who drifts in and out of people’s lives and for an instance manages to find normality, while also finding companionship in this equally unhappy woman. Seung-yeon Lee is sublime as this battered woman who learns a lot from the habits and respect of this man who takes her away and teaches her about the unusual satisfaction accomplished through living in other people’s homes temporarily. “3-Iron” will have you smiling, crying, and sitting in awe the whole way through.
I’m sad I held off on this film for so long, because it’s rare I ever watch a romance that’s actually original, and unique, while presenting me with elements I’ve never seen before. Nothing is predictable. And I love it for that.