3-Iron — Module 02 questions and scene summaries
Questions for this day
1. There is no substantive dialogue between the two lovers in this film. Do you think that is significant to the director's notion of romantic love in this film?
2. This is the most "linear" of the films we have viewed. That is, there are no flashbacks or essential elements from the past, or future scenarios. It has a narrow frame of reference in terms of time. Even Three Times has memories of a lost love (first and third segments) and the importance of past promises and future possible actions in the second segment. This movie, on the other hand, is more about the "now". Does that affect the nature of the romance?
3. In today's segment the couple will visit the home of a boxer, an old man, and a country villa. The first two of these are needed to advance the plot but the third, the villa, seems to be symbolic in terms of the romance. What might it represent, and is this significant to the director's view of romance in this film or could other locations substitute?
4. In Dolls, there are many accidents. There is an accident in this film, in today's segment. Does it function within the romantic narrative in a similar way?
Scenes 11-20 summaries for “3-iron”
(spoiler alert)
DVD Scene 11 (0:31;10)
They break into a different house. It seems to be that of a boxer. He checks the answering machine to learn that a couple is in Hawaii for their third anniversary. He shadow-boxes with the photo of the boxer. He tries to turn on the radio but it is broken; he fixes it.
She leaves him and grabs scissors from a jar. She brings him the scissors. He cuts her hair very lovingly. They still have not talked to each other.
She is in front of the mirror with her new hair cut, looks good. Now she has the camera and takes a picture of herself in front of the boxer, but he joins her in the photo. They take photos together.
They watch boxing together on the TV.
She gets liquor or wine or an aperitif out of the cabinet, he puts music on. In pajamas, they drink together. It seems they have drunk quite a bit. She begins to cry. He puts his arm around her for the first time; she leans on his shoulder.
He puts her to bed gently and is about to leave but she grabs his wrist and pulls him to bed.
A car returns outside. The boxer has returned. He and his wife notice the two sleeping in bed. He puts on his boxing gloves and asks his wife to check to see if they have stolen anything. He beats up the man. He asks why they are wearing the couple's pajamas. They have nothing to say.
DVD Scene 12 (0:36;20)
She has bought some food at a convenience store. She offers it to Tae-suk, whose face is bruised. He eats. She smiles. She leans against him comfortably. He starts the golf hitting again. She stands in front of him again. He moves the ball again. She stands in front of him again. He moves the ball again. She doesn't move. He swings. The ball breaks off the wife, hits a car, and kills a young woman, Mi-young, who is in the passenger seat with her young lover or husband. Very troubled, they leave/flee the scene.
Tae-suk is sitting alone, crying. Sun-hwa sits down next to him and comforts him.
DVD Scene 13 (0:39;35)
A neighborhood, clearly no longer Seoul. They are in a provincial town, hanging the usual advertisements.
They return as usual at night. There is a lovely courtyard on the inside; it is a very traditional, well-appointed estate. They sit side-by-side at a table and drink tea in a ceremony that seems something like a marriage ceremony. They still have not spoken to each other. There is a photo of a happy couple behind them, on the way. They kiss.
Fade to black.
DVD Scene 14 (0:42;25)
A low-class apartment complex. They are hanging the advertisements. A man returns, takes off the advertisement, throws it to the floor, our couple steps on it.
This apartment is rather narrow. They check the rooms. In the second room, Tae-suk sees something, closes the door. She insists on looking. She covers her mouth. The she goes into the room.
It is a dead man with blood at his head and a little lost-looking dog.
They investigate the apartment and find a number of a relative to call; but the relative is away for three days, according to the answering machine.
They clean the corpse and prepare it in the proper, traditional manner, for burial. (Hemp cloth, the right number of bindings, etc.) The music has turned to strained violins for the first time.
Sun-hwa cleans the bloody floor. The phone rings. Tae-suk picks up. It is the son asking if his father has called. Tae-suk hangs up. the floor is clean.
They sleep together in this apartment.
DVD Scene 15 (0:46;18)
She makes a meal and serves him. They eat in the kitchen, smiling. Then they hear a knock on the door. "Father!"
The man who has knocked on the door has a key and just enters, and catches the two there. They keep them inside, call the police, who arrest them.
They are being interrogated. They go through their belongings and find the camera with the various photos of them in places together. The main investigator asks Office Lee to check the addresses and see if there are things stolen.
They take the woman outside and begin to rough up Tae-suk. He still hasn't talked. The woman watches from outside as he gets hit.
The primary investigator has evidently gotten from Tae-suk that the body is still at the apartment area.
DVD Scene 16 (0:49;28)
At a plot or garden near the apartment, police are digging up the body. It has been carefully, perfectly, buried.
Back at the police station interrogation room, the primary investigator has found her picture in something (probably a missing person's list) and picks up the phone to call her husband.
He is practicing golf outside when his cell phone rings.
Back at the interrogation room, the primary investigator says Tae-suk has committed murder, kidnapping, body dumping, theft and probably other things. He thinks he has abused the woman which is why she is so silent. But Office Lee (?) brings in a report that says Tae-suk has never done anything wrong and that the houses do not report anything stolen.
The husband (Lee Min-kyu) arrives. He is very angry. The detective hands over his wife. He pulls her angrily from the room. Before leaving, he begins throwing golf balls at Tae-suk. Sun-hwa and Tae-suk exchange loving looks before she is pulled away.
Office Lee explains that the old man had lung cancer, that is was not murder. The he buried him better than any son would.
The primary office makes his assistant go outside. But he is sure Tae-suk raped Sun-hwa. Tae-suk smiles at the detective.
DVD Scene 17 (0:53;18)
The husband is misting plants, looking self-satisfied. Sun-hwa will not make eye contact with him. He is trying to be nice, says he was too harsh before. He tries to hug her but she pulls away. And he says that he has sent a lot of money to her family. She stands up and walks away. He angrily makes a cell phone call.
He and the detective are sitting together in a car. It seems the husband has convinced him to allow him to take revenge on Tae-suk. The detective tells him to do what he wants, and gets out of the car. The husband looks happy.
The police deliver Tae-suk, hand-cuffed, to a remote location where the husband waits. He begins hitting him with golf balls. The police watch from a distance.
After this abuse, the detective grabs Tae-suk. He dares him to smile again. Tae-suk attacks and almost chokes the detective to death with handcuffs.
DVD Scene 18 (0:56;54)
Tae-suk in in prison, practicing golf with an imaginary club and ball. Other prisoners watch. We hear the sound effects of the golf ball being hit even though this is impossible. A prisoner pretends to steal the imaginary golf ball; Tae-suk attacks. The guards come.
Now Tae-suk is in solitary confinement. He looks around in his cell, slips off his shoes, and begins moving against the walls in a martial arts sort of way.
Back at the house of Sun-hwa, the husband approaches her while she is asleep. She turns away. He looks angry.
Back at the prison, the guard checks Tae-suk's cell. He cannot see him through the window in the door. He goes in, but he was just hiding. The guard slaps him.
He climbs the wall, magically. He is in training of some sort.
DVD Scene 19 (0:59;49)
Back at the house, the husband has been drinking heavily. He goes back into the room of the woman. She pretends to be asleep. She turns away. He sits next to her, puts he hand between her legs and asks if Tae-suk did this to her and if she sat quietly when he did. She pulls away. He slaps her. She slaps him, and leaves the room.
Back at the prison, Tae-suk continues his training and the judge cannot see him again. When he enters the room, he sill cannot see him, then finds him up high.He beats him with a stick and says if he does that again, he will kill him.
His training deepens. He goes through various forms, something like a bird, perhaps.
We see his feet carefully stepping and this transitions to Sun-hwa's feet stepping onto the weigh machine Tae-suk once fixed. She fixes it. Then takes a jacket out of her closet.
A student writes (thanks Jing!):
I wanted to suggest a correction to the last sentence of the summary for Scene 19 ("Then takes a jacket out of her closet."). Sun-hwa is taking out the black dress she wears in the next scene, not a jacket. I think this might be important to note because it shows that her appearance is premeditated in the next scene; she wants to appear presentable and in doing so is able to avoid causing the owners of the house alarm. I think if she looked shabby the husband might not have let her in so easily.
DVD Scene 20 (1:03;17) (missing!)
A student writes (thanks Jing!):
I noticed that the last few scenes were missing from today's (session 2 of 3) summary of 3-Iron. I went back to rewatch those scenes again and wrote up a summary for those scenes, starting from scene 20. However, I'm not sure what the chapters are on the DVD because I watched it online. In any case, here they are:
Scene 20 and on:
Sun-hwa walking down the street of the traditional-looking houses, wearing a black dress. The door of the house she and Tae-suk visited previously is open, and she walks in. The man who lives in the house is there, tending to a large vat with red fish and water plants inside. He asks her if he can help her, but Sun-hwa just walks silently past him into the house. Sun-hwa lays down to sleep on the couch where she and Tae-suk had sat drinking tea before. Quiet, contemplative music plays. The man is puzzled, but he seems to decide that Sun-hwa is not dangerous and goes back to tending his courtyard. His wife comes back a little later, and asks him who Sun-hwa is. He replies that he doesn't know, but stops her from going to disturb Sun-hwa. They let her sleep. A shot of the red fish in the vat. The soft music continues. Sun-hwa wakes up. Both the husband and wife are tending to the various plants in the little courtyard. Sun-hwa gets up and bows to them before leaving quietly.
Min-gyu is outside practicing golf when Sun-hwa comes back. Min-gyu asks Sun-hwa where she's been, and when she doesn't reply he grabs her arm. She turns around and looks at him, then walks into the house.