kurosawakira When I saw this subdued and stupendously sumptuous film for the first time years ago, I was inclined to start a new film project: a list of the most amazing film moments I know of. These moments are those that I remember from films, even from years afar, sometimes only single images, sometimes whole scenes. There's such a moment in this film: when Tae-suk disappears from us, the eye (camera) looks around in surprised and anxious nervousness, never finding him. Have we become immersed to what he sees? What has he become? The scene continues as we revisit the places they've broken into, the most dramatic being at the photographer's place. He and his girlfriend are in the bedroom, while she becomes aware of someone's presence, looking at us in horror and saying that it's as if there's someone there.The camera, our perspective, is ultimately a ghost of some sort, simply depending what kind of mythic terminology one wishes to employ. The point is simply that it's a silent observer that the characters aren't aware of most of the time. Kim gives an answer to perhaps the most thrilling question I know, in cinematic terms: who is the camera? and what kind of personality does it have? I'm drawn to filmmakers who are fascinated with this, and Kim makes the whole story revolve around this question, as a matter of fact having the two main characters remain silent for the greater part of the film, silently observing, acting as ghosts in other people's apartments. Tae-suk is finally metamorphosed into the eye if not completely, at least at times comprehensively.I love the idea and how it's done: the eye curious about what happens around it, in this film reflected in the characters' comings and goings. It's brilliant, woven deeply into the fabric of the thing itself, rewarding the viewer by creating a sense of awe in the process. Kim lets other characters speak, creating a wall of silence around us and our surrogates, and we know where we belong: we don't speak, we observe.This is also a beautiful poem about love and life, and death. I recently saw Haneke's "Amour" (2012) and was reminded of this film, the power it has, and how it uses that power affluently.

pontifikator This is the first film I've seen by director Kim Ki-duk, and I'll put it in the "Magic Realism" genre. The movie stars Lee Seung-yeon as our hero, Jae Hee as our heroine. As far as I can remember, the characters they play never say a word to each other until the final scene.Lee's character (Sun-hwa) is apparently homeless; he posts take-out menus on doors then circulates back to see which doors still have the menus on them the next day. He picks the locks of supposedly vacant homes or apartments and spends a night or two -- he listens to the answering machine to see if people have said they'll be away. While he's there, he fixes whatever is broken and does the people's laundry. He finds one apparently vacant home in a very well-to-do neighborhood and breaks in. He wanders through the home, finds that the scales need to be repaired, does so, and plays some golf in the backyard before noticing that the home is indeed occupied. It turns out the owner is away on business, but his wife (named Tae-suk) remains; she shows the bruises and busted lip of their last discussion. She's a prisoner in her own home, and our young hero is a free-spirit with no home. It's a match made in heaven. The title of the movie comes from the 3 iron that Sun-hwa finds in the home occupied by Tae- suk and her beater. The husband comes home early, takes her to task for not answering his phone calls, and discovers Sun-hwa lurking in the back yard. Sun-hwa takes the 3 iron and drives several golf balls into the husband, knocking him down; Sun-hwa and Tae-suk make their escape on his motorcycle. Our couple continues his pattern of handing out fliers, finding a vacant apartment, and staying overnight. Nothing much happens during these scenes with nothing being said, and yet we follow their meandering path with interest and feeling. Eventually someone discovers them and calls the police. The police investigate but find no evidence of any crimes, no thefts, only repairs and clean laundry. Tae-suk is returned to her husband, and Sun-hwa is sent to jail for breaking and entering where he serves a short sentence.Now is where the magic realism comes in to play. Sun-hwa hides from his jailer, causing the jailer to beat him and threaten to kill him. Sun-hwa becomes better and better at hiding, becoming capable of standing behind the jailer out of his view no matter how the jailer twists and turns. Eventually, he becomes invisible to the jailer. The jailer constantly threatens Sun- hwa with death and beats him each time. When it comes time to release Sun-hwa, he is escorted down a tunnel to a light at the end of the tunnel. Apparently Sun-hwa revisits each of the places he stayed with Tae-suk; I say apparently because there is evidence of his ghostly presence, but neither we nor the occupants ever see him, although the occupants are aware of a presence. He goes to Tae-suk's home, and while her husband can't see him hiding behind him, Tae-suk does see Sun-hwa and tells him she loves him. Her husband is shocked and pleased because he assumes she's addressing him. Tae-suk fixes her husband breakfast, placing bowls around him so that as he turns to one serving, Sun-hwa steals a bite from another, both husband and loved one being filled from the same offerings.The husband leaves, and we see the lovers embrace, standing on a scale that reads zero.We saw Sun-hwa fix the scale earlier. If we paid attention, we know his weight shown before he fixed it, his weight after he fixed it, and her weight after he fixed it. We saw Tae-suk take the scale apart after she was returned to her husband, so she may have restored it to its former error, and we know their combined weight would take the broken scale back to zero if they both stood on it. So we can imagine that the unrepaired the scale and their combined weights plus the error is the 180 kilos which takes us back to zero. Or we can imagine that the yin and yang of their love is weightless. Or we can imagine that he was beaten to death in prison and that he is, indeed, a ghost whose spirit lifts her body so that it, too, is weightless. It's an interesting film with a spiritualism that is not heavy-handed.Because of the ending, we get to fill the movie with meanings and emotions of our own. Of the places they stayed, only one couple was happy, and they both return to it separately to spend some time again. It's an easy movie to put meaning into as we see the empty apartments and lives of others in Seoul. It's a fascinating and interesting love story.The version of the movie that I saw is rated R in American. This is a travesty. There is no nudity, and there is no sex. Apparently two scenes caused the MPAA to lose its mind: in one scene we see him under a sheet looking at a book of photographs with a nude model; his hand is jerking back and forth under the sheet, so we assume he's masturbating. In another scene after Tae- suk was returned to her husband, we see them get into bed, both in pajamas. Her husband puts his hand under the sheet and demands to know if "he touched you there." Our assumption is that he's asking if she's had sex with Sun-hwa. Why this deserved an R is a mystery to me.

chaos-rampant Spring...Spring showed that this man knows reflections, remember the temple gliding on waters, but has trouble articulating a convincing illusion of life. So we got splendid revelations of a phony nature, a postcard in place of the real thing, this was problematic because it run counter to the everyday essence of Buddhism. This is also an issue here, the human dimension as it were; the abusive husband, the cop, the warden, Kim doesn't seem able to convince that these are human beings who breathe and walk in the same world as you and I do and not just plot agents on a page.Something else is at play here, emptiness that I usually seek. The bulk of the film is a love affair between protagonists who never speak, so have to come up with other ways to convey the intimacy. Wong Kar Wai that this was inspired from strives for a similar effect; he presents only impulses for connection, only gestures, time and caress, trusting us to complete the affair in emotional space he has reserved for these things. I think we really lucked out that this was filmed quickly, in just over two weeks, so it is less conscious about a lot of things, again a little contrived, Kim will probably never be one of our greatest filmmakers, lacking a truly subtle touch, but has enough intuitive pull this one.They break into other peoples' homes while the owners are away, transient beings passing through the world. They own nothing, are attached to nothing, in the sense that everything exists just for the night together and is not theirs to take on their way out. He spends time diligently fixing things, doing laundry, taking care of life around him. They take photos together, reflections for later, one of the most poignant images about what this is all about is where he photographs himself next to photos of people. You can presume that eventually he has died and it has all ever so slowly been rolled into a dream about him, pieced from time and reflections. It doesn't matter so much as being enveloped by a feel they have built between them.It is much more Buddhist than Spring. They don't need words between them because they don't have to weigh on each other with self and desire, not having any attachments beyond being together and getting busy putting back into order each new world they come into.He becomes a shadow, air, air that she holds by the hand. The golf ball spins the karmas into motion again.This is fine but if you are like me, you'll get shivers imagining the film in the much more delicate hands of a true calligrapher like Shunji Iwai.

Boba_Fett1138 The main concept of this movie is already a pretty weird and original one to begin with. It's not the sort of stuff you would normally come up with, when trying to write and create a movie. The main concept itself doesn't sound all that compelling but it's more the execution and the originality of it all that makes this a great watch.So here is the concept; A young man travels from house to house and stays at people's homes while they are away on vacation or out of town for a couple of days. While he is at their homes he cleans and fixes stuff, takes some pictures and then gets out again, when the residents return. Who comes up with this sort of stuff? Ki-duk Kim does apparently!But it's being all strangely compelling and entertaining. It's pretty simplistic and small with all of the stuff it does but this actually makes the movie kind of a sweet movie to watch.Especially when the unusual love story kicks in, between the main character and an abused wife. What is all the more special and unusual about it is that not one of them says a single word during this entire movie. Other characters speak but never its two main characters, which fortunately does not become just a gimmick for the movie but actually adds to its story and overall way of storytelling.It's an unusual movie but never a pretentious or over artistic one. It's a perfectly accessible movie to watch, for just about everybody. Granted that its second half is not really up to par with its first and things can get a bit too odd at times but overall this doesn't take anything away from the overall movie experience, which was something entertaining and refreshing.The movie is not a comedy but it still has some strangely comical moments in it, which mostly comes from the movie its absurdity. This is something that works really pleasant for the movie and makes this a rather nice and easy watch.Especially for the lovers of Asian cinema, this is an absolute must-see!8/10 http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/