3-IRON aka BIN-JIP

Year: 2004
USA: Sony Pictures Classics
UK: Optimum Releasing
Cast: Jae Hee, Lee Seung-yeon, Jang Hoon, Park Se-jin
Director: Kim Ki-duk
Countries: South Korea / Japan
Language: Korean (English Subtitles)
USA: 95 mins
UK: 87 mins
USA Rated: R for some sexual content
UK Certificate: 15 contains moderate sex and violence
USA Release Date: 29 April 2005 (Limited Release - Los Angeles and New York)
UK Release Date: 15 July 2005


Synopsis

Tae-suk (Jae Hee) drifts around on his motorcycle looking for empty houses to stay in. He goes from door to door and puts up flyers in the keyholes of each house. He later breaks into the house where the flyer has not been removed, assuming that the owner is away.

Tae-suk lives in the empty house until the owners return, but never steals or ruins anything. He simply guards the houses for a few days, fixing broken items, and even does the owners' laundry. Before leaving, he puts everything back as it used be.

He repeatedly lives like this until one day he sneaks into a rich home and meets his destiny - a married woman named Sun-hwa (Lee Seung-yeon) who has been suffering under the torment of her abusive husband. While Tae-suk is sneaking around the house, Sun-hwa hides in the dark and peeks silently at him. She's afraid of him at first, but when she sees him fixing a broken scale she realizes that he's not a thief and keeps hiding to watch him.

That night, Tae-suk wakes up petrified after he discovers Sun-hwa looking down at him. He runs out of there, but the phone suddenly rings. It's Sun-hwa's husband. He overhears their conversation and realizes that Sun-hwa is keeping a very miserable marriage life. Sun-hwa looks silently at him as if she's begging him to save her. But Tae-suk turns away and just walks out.

Even after Tae-suk leaves, he can't stop thinking about Sun-hwa's sad begging eyes. The more he tries to forget about her, the more vivid the images of Sun-hwa become. So Tae-suk sneaks into her home again, and watches her in silence. She cries pitifully and then takes a bath. After watching her for a while, Tae-suk turns on music to soothe her soul. He prepares clothes for her while she's in the bath. Sun-hwa senses that Tae-suk has come back for her and she starts to feel comfortable. But her comfort turns sour after her husband comes home and tries to force her to sleep with him.

Forcing himself onto his wife, Tae-suk comes to her defense and they escape together leaving the husband slumped on the ground....