3-Iron - Yet Another Ploy For Impressionable Critics

In his movie Russian Ark Aleksandr Sokurov covered the absence of plot or purpose with delirious dialogues. The protagonists (one of whom is invisible to make it more mysterious) exchange incoherent gobbledygook, often repeating the same line 3 or 4 times a row, or erupt in batshit monologues, which not quite unlike Family Guy’s manatee jokes have little to do with the plot. As there was none in Russian Ark it didn’t really matter.

Korean director Kim Ki-duk of the Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring fame in his new film 3-Iron (as it goes in PoMo culture, the less relation the title has to the piece the cooler) did not even bother with lines. The main character remains silent for its entirety, his supporting actress says a few towards the end. With dead-pan faces theygo through the motions prescribed by the script. In its aesthetics and photography the film borrows heavily from Japanese manga strips, minus the speech balloons. A visually appealing threefold-hug final scene delivers the final blow to those wishing to appear in-the-know-of-all-things-Asian: it seems charged with symbolics, yet does not give any clue as per what the symbolics are driving at. It remains deliciously open to interpretation - the classic PoMo principle of absence of objective truth at work.

Pregnant silence between the characters keeps hinting at some deep meaning hidden from the uninitiated – probably the best ploy to lure film critics into the “mysterious Orient” trap. A sprinkle of Buddhist imagery and director’s reluctance to explain his opus are impeccable PR stints to secure media acclaim.

3-Iron is most reminiscent of that Asian Tantra shtick of having sex without ejaculation that leaves you feeling empty and cheated.