Korean movies in DVD/Blueray gift set

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3-Iron "Empty House" Korean Movie 2 DVD gift set Item No: 2786 Our Price: $34.99 Qty:

Additional Information: About the movie "3-Iron" Empty House

Kim Ki-Duk(aka Kim Gi-deok) might have not been winning the Golden Lion at the recently concluded Venice Film Festival, but his 11th film "Bin jip" (3-Iron) recipient of the Best Director Award, has certainly swept away the hearts and minds of the crowd and brought him home bags full of praise.

Hailed by many as the moral winner of the festival and selling fast to international distributors (sales company Cineclick Asia struck a U.S. distribution deal with Sony Pictures Classics), "3-Iron" has definitely propelled Kim from the status of cult director to the rank of world-class filmmaker.

Kim's long-lasting love story with foreign critics and cinephiles actually started at the Venice Film Festival back in 2000 when "Som" (The Isle) was his first film to be invited to compete in a major international festival.

Added at the very last minute to the Venice competition lineup as a surprise film, "3-Iron" was welcomed by reviewers, bringing Kim his third International Film Critics Award.

If the reviews were good, the audiences' response was even better. A 15- minute standing ovation saluted "3-Iron" in its first public screening, surprising director Kim and actors Lee Seung-yeon and Jae Hee, who had to hang around as viewers gathered around them to give compliments and ask for autographs.

Some people claimed not to have seen such an astonishing applause since the posthumous premiere of Stanley Kubrick's "Eyes Wide Shut". The award for "3-Iron" also generated the longest applause at the awards press conference.

In "Samaritan Girl" he tackled Christian redemption and social tragedy through wayward schoolgirls and their sexual amorality. In "3-Iron" it's materialistic and possessive adults who get a critical spanking. The result though is slightly less interesting and less appealing even as arthouse fare.

However, the premise is a kick. A transient young man spends his days breaking into people's empty homes. But instead of robbing them, he simply partakes of the vacationing resident's lives for a few days - he eats a little bit of their food, poses for pictures next to valued possessions, but in return he also fixes any household items if they're broken and generally cleans up any laundry or mess left around.

One day he illegally enters an affluent businessman's large house only to be discovered by the inhabitant's battered wife who is hiding in a corner. Sensing the young stranger's gentleness, the woman not only does not turn him in, she eventually leaves with him abandoning his hot-tempered, careerist husband. Initially, there's no romance between them, just companions escaping from reality. From this point on, the unlikely couple travels the city living a phantom's life in other people's homes without them knowing it. The young man's only lobby seems to be driving golf balls after stealing one of the abusive husband's clubs after disarming him in a confrontation using said club.

However, the revenge-filled husband soon catches up and their benign existence is disputed and questioned by the authorities when they are caught. It's a fascinating concept, one powerfully executed with next to no dialogue (the main actor Jae Hee doesn't speak in the film at all). As cinema Kim successfully relies on striking images and the actors' expressive face - often with little or very simple facial expressions. In an curious way, this is a "Bonnie & Clyde" romance re-jigged as a commentary on macho Korean society's lack of emotional connection.