Monday, April 03, 2006
Romance without words
I've seen a lot of films recently, but finally here's one worth reviewing.

3-Iron is a Korean film about a young man (Tae-suk) who breaks into empty houses while people are away on vacation. For reasons that are never explained, he tidies up their houses, does their laundry, tends to their plants, and repairs anything that he finds broken.

One day he breaks into a house that isn't really empty - a beautiful woman (Sun-hwa) is inside, hiding in a corner because she has been badly beaten by her abusive husband. When Tae-suk discovers Sun, he initially runs away, but then realizes that Sun needs a caring friend.

Without giving away everything that happens, the two of them run away together and she joins him in his strange hobby. They fall in love, and this is shown beautifully and subtly without any spoken words ever being exchanged between them. And I mean, no words. The two major characters in this film don't speak. I know how weird that sounds, but believe me, it was incredibly moving.

They're forced to be apart for a while (I refuse to give away details, because this is totally a must-see), but you just know they have to be together again. And when words were finally shared between these two people who say so much with silence, I must admit I shed a few girly tears. Really, this was one of the most beautiful (and most unusual) love stories I've ever seen.

I don't know how difficult this one will be to track down - I'm fortunate enough to have a local video place that stocks a ton of foreign films. But trust me when I say it's well worth the effort.
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