3-Iron/ 빈집/ Bin-jip [2004] Pt.2

The next morning finds them by a river. Drifter drills a hole through a golf ball he took with him and threads a wire through it to make a loop. He continues to practice his golf swing, towards some buildings, at one point frightening a passing couple. They wind up at the apartment of a professional photographer, who happens to have a few framed photos of Woman. He repairs a broken wall clock, takes some photos of himself (Woman joins him) and cooks for her. She cuts up and reassembles one of her pictures and hand-washes some clothes the way she saw Drifter do it.
The sound of the doorbell startles the two of them. A woman has stopped by, apparently unaware that our photographer isn't home. She leaves and they vacate the apartment without incident.


Drifter winds the wire around a tree again and practices his swing when Woman stops him, positioning herself in front of the ball's path. He shifts around the tree but she follows him and blocks him again. She stares at him intently, not answering his questioning gaze. Unwilling to put her in danger (in case the wire came loose, perhaps) he puts the club and ball away. The next house they enter belongs to a professional boxer. They have a broken stereo. They take some pictures and partake of some of the couple's alcohol. This turns out to be a mistake. The two of them fall asleep in the bed and the pro boxer husband attacks Drifter. His wife quickly stops him when she finds nothing missing. The couple are understandably confused and the two interlopers leave.

Shin Ramyun of course.

The two stop at a convenience store where Woman gets an instant noodle bowl. Drifter starts to hit the golf ball again and Woman blocks him again but he shifts. She doesn't stop him but continues to stare. He pauses before swinging again. The ball comes loose and smashes through a windshield.

This time Woman comforts him as he cries on a street corner.


The next day the two make their rounds posting on doorknobs. Life goes on. The two end up at another flat. You'll just have to watch this scene to see the excellence of it. I won't say anymore on it here.
(￣◡￣)/


Enough rising action, the climax approaches. The two enter another apartment building to find an elderly man dead. Apparently he fell and hit his head. They carefully wrap his body and bury him. Unfortunately, the man's son appears and, finding two strangers inhabiting his father's home, assumes that they did something to him.Things get worse when they find the body. Neither of them utter a word; however, and an autopsy reveals the old man died of lung cancer. The husband shows up to claim his wife and he bribes one of the officers into allowing him to swing golf balls at Drifter before releasing him. Drifter attacks the officer afterward,resulting in his arrest.


While in prison he continues to practice his golfing with an imaginary ball and club. One of the prisoners takes his imaginary ball, provoking Drifter. The prison moves him to a solitary cell where he continually hides out of sight, angering the guard. The film takes a surreal turn here. Drifter goes around his cell and tests the limits of his sight range, 180 degrees around him. He identifies the blind spots of a person's vision and disappears like a ghost.

Woman continually resists Husband's advances and ignores his claims to have become a changed man. She returns to the home where she and Drifter first came together and sleeps.

Drifter's sentence ends and he gets revenge on the cop who wronged him, in suitably surreal fashion. He returns to the homes of Boxer, the Garden (where they slept) and Photographer before making his way to Woman's, all the while invisible. We get little peeks into each of their lives, each of the relationships.

Drifter finally returns to the house. Husband feels his presence but cannot find him. Then, Woman speaks to Drifter for the first time, though the husband mistakenly believes she spoke to him, "사랑해요."




The film ends with a sign card that makes you think. I for one have always believed the happier possibility.