Course : CLIT2086 Asian on Screen

Student : Cherry, Chan Lei Lei (2005626134)

E-mail address : arlei918@gmail.com
Tutor : Patrick Luk (Mon 9:30)
Journal Entry : What’s “New” about New Korean Cinema________________________

As I remember, I have only watched two Korean films before I watched 3-Iron. The two
Korean films I watched can be regarded as main stream commercial films with typical tragedy
narrative like the Korean melodrama. 3-Iron shows a counter cinematic style from main
stream films. There are many surrealist elements in the film, for example the male protagonist
is like a ghostly figure fleeing around the space and climbing the wall. The identities,
background, motivations of breaking into different house are not stated in the film. The male
protagonist, Tae-suk is just like a guy who is homeless, with minimal personal history.
Besides, the meaning of ownership, relationship, and boundary are problematic in the film.
People used to make their territories through objects, such as the family pictures hanging on
the wall show their ownership of the houses. However, the ownership is challenged by taking
photos in various houses by the protagonists. The ownership is no longer acquired by objects,
but by images. Ma, Sheng-mei in her essay, “Kim Ki-duk’s Non Person Films” describes it as
Kim’s ideal of bodied bodelessness.

The last shot in the end of the film shows 3 characters, Sun-hwa is hugged by her husband
while she is kissing Tae-suk who stands at the back of Sun-hwa’s husband. A relationship is
no longer defined by physical intimacy. We cannot easily figure out what is the relationship
between the three characters, or make it this way; we actually need not to figure out.
“Ambiguity of a voiceless” is another cinematic element used in the film. It is unbearable to
be silent for so long in main stream commercial films, but Kim use it as special cinematic
element as one part of the narrative. It has challenged the meaning of communication.

Kim Ki-duk is regarded as post-modernist filmmaker. It is interesting question to ask whether

3-Iron shows modernist or postmodernist world. Modernism and postmodernism are very
similar concept according to their view of alienated world. One key difference is their attitude
towards the alienation and reality. Modernism shows anxiety to the de-center self while

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postmodernism shows a much playful attitude to it. If we use the last sentence written in the
film, “It’s hard to tell that the world we live in is either a reality or a dream” and the
completed and positive ending of the film, we may define the film as postmodern one as it
addresses the reality with playful attitude. However, it cannot be clearly defined as we can
still find Kim handling some social problems in modernity, such as the non-communicated
family (the father died alone without his son knowing it) and the sexual violence that the
husband forces on Sun-hwa. It seems that Kim raises some worries about the loosing
relationship in modern Korean society. Therefore, it is arguable question that whether the film
shows modernist or postmodernist world.

Although I have not watched much Korean films, which I realize is a thing to be regretted as
many new Korean filmmakers have experimented many different genres, possibility and
newness in cinematic elements, narrating methods, the understanding of the world and
metaphysical aspect of filming. These innovations contributed by the supportive government
policies and atmosphere of cine-mania. However, when more and more Korean films got
international reputation through film festivals, sometime the films may be filmed to appeal to
the western interest of exoticism.