Kim Ki-duk is one of the few outstanding directors in Korea who is original and can come out of his own unique style. Unfortunately, it is difficult for the general audience to accept his works. The subject matter of his works is a little difficult to understand, coupled with extreme sex and violence, as well as the abusive destruction of the heroine, it is easy for ordinary audiences to reject him.
Kim Ki-duk is good at depicting the abnormal mentality of marginal characters, and perhaps so, maybe someone with a marginal personality can appreciate the subtleties of his works, right?
Kim Ki-duk's "Empty Room" also depicts the disadvantaged groups wandering on the fringes of society, but it reduces the violent atmosphere of the past and injects more warmth and care.
The male protagonist Tae Seok (played by Jae-hee) lives a nomadic life, he rides a motorcycle every day to post flyers at the door of a high-end residential area, and at night sneaks into those empty houses that have not torn up the leaflets, but does not want to break into the empty door as a thief, but just wants to live in the empty house. He would help the owner wash and dry the dirty clothes, even fix the broken electrical appliances, and take a photo with the family in the house, as if he were part of that family.
The heroine Seonhwa (played by Lee Sung-yeon) was a well-known model before marriage, but after marriage, she was abused and beaten by her husband, and marriage and family were a cage that she could not escape. So when Tae-seok inadvertently broke into her home, she only dared to hide in the corner and quietly watch him pass unimpeded.
Tae-seok found Seonhwa who had been abused by her husband, and he couldn't forget Seonhwa's helpless eyes, so he taught her husband a hard lesson with golf, and then ran away from home with Sunhwa on a motorcycle. Tae-seok and Seon-hwa are both lonely and lonely in their hearts, and after experiencing a series of empty house adventures together, the two lonely hearts finally fit together and become mutual self-redemption for each other.
The characters in Kim Ki-duk's films are usually reticent, and this time the lines of the male and female protagonists are reduced to a minimum, with the male protagonist not saying a word from beginning to end, and the female protagonist not having two simple lines until the end of the film. Although there are few lines in the whole film, through the expressions, movements and eyes of the actors, the interactions and feelings between the male and female protagonists are very delicate and profound.
The pace of the whole movie is also very fast, and Kim Ki-duk's superb use of lenses and fast and neat editing make people look at it intently without feeling dull at all. The plot of this film is not complicated, but it is difficult for the audience to guess the next development of the plot, and the simple plot is full of multiple metaphors, even if the audience may not be able to fully decipher the moral of it, but still get quite a lot of fun from it.
The English title "3-iron" is a golf club that is rarely used, just like an abandoned person or a vacant house, revealing the loneliness and helplessness of being alienated from the world, and it is also a metaphor for the relationship between Tae-seok, Seonhwa and her husband.
Tae-seok used this club to beat Seonhwa's husband, which represents a new hope to break through loneliness. Golf balls also symbolize anger and venting violence, and although Tae-seok ties golf balls to the trunk of a tree, the slightest loss of control can still inadvertently hurt others.
Seonhwa stands in front of the golf ball with herself to suppress Tae-seok's violent mentality, and although she is weak and bullied by her husband, she is actually a symbol of human tolerance and kindness.
In the adventure of Tae-seok and Seon-hwa's empty house, we see various social and family shortcomings, such as the abnormal relationship between men and women of photographers, the discord between husband and wife of boxers, and the lack of care for elderly people living alone. While helping the owner of the empty house repair the damaged items, Tae-seok also inadvertently leaves some mischievous clues, which are interestingly revealed later.
The traditional house seems to be a rare harmony family nowadays, and there is no need to clean or repair it when Tae-seok and Seonhwa visit, so it becomes a place where their hearts merge into one, and Seonhwa later returns there to wander and rest, as if it is the most peaceful and peaceful paradise in the world.
The second half has an increasingly surreal connotation, and Tae-seok has practiced invisibility in prison, as if he has broken away from his shell, or has transcended the bonds of the world. So he came and went like a ghost, and only the good flowers that connected with his heart could see him. The marriage relationship between Seonhwa and her husband is a fate that cannot be escaped in reality, but in the dream world, Seonhwa's body and Tae-seok's soul can still be connected.