3 Iron (Korean: Bin Jip)

Movie: 3 Iron

Year: 2004

Director: Kim Ki-duk

Language: Korean

Synopsis:Tae Suk is a drifter on a bike and goes around dropping take out menus to different people across the city. Later in the night when he returns to find that some menus have not been taken he breaks open into these houses and stays there. He doesn’t enter these with the motive of burglary but uses it as his home. He takes care of the house. Cleans the house, repairs the instruments and quietly vanishes before the owners are back. In one of these attempts he comes across a battered wife of a rich guy, Sun Wha. Sun Wha who is assaulted and injured many times doesn’t say anything when Tae Suk breaks into her house. She hides and observes him from a distance till the point when he realizes that she had seen him all along. Tae Suk leaves and returns after much contemplation. He finds Sun Wha being abused by her husband. He hits the husband using golf balls and they elope. Both of them start living in apartments they break into. After a mixed bag of events they get caught in an apartment where an old man had died. Tae Suk is arrested and sentenced. In jail he practices becoming a shadow which allows him to be invisible because he is always at 180 degrees behind the person in front. He goes back to Sun Wha, only this time her husband is not able to see him in the house. Very weird

My own take: It takes you sometime before you realize that the two main characters in the movie have no dialogue at all. The story is told only by the supporting cast who speak. The strength of the movie comes also from the fact that they have used the actors to convey their feelings only through actions, so it leaves a lot to the imagination of the viewers. Watch the movie for the cinematic experience and also for the different story. Couple of scenes are very different and leave a mark. For example one of my favorite scenes is one in which Tae Suk goes into a photographers house and reorganizes a picture to add his artistic bit. Typical Kim Ki-duk kind of direction which has a lot of symbolism. Evening after office type watch

Rashomon (Japanese)

Movie: Rashomon

Year: 1950

Director: Akira Kurosawa

Language: Japanese

Synopsis:There are couple of things which are as timeless as this movie. The plot revolves around the rape of a woman and the murder of her husband, a samurai, by a bandit in the forest. There are five witnesses to this incident and they come to testify in the court. There is a monk, a woodcutter, the bandit, the wife and the samurai who comes via a medium. The story revolves around how all these people have a different view of the same incident and everyone adds his/her own perception to the thing. This adds to the problems as most people are also trying to explain the incident from their own view points to save themselves. The complex plot leads us into very significant questions on honor, trust, desire, lust and pride.

My own take: Few classics in the cinematic world achieve such rare levels of cult status. This movie has not just inspired many movies, series and plays but also finds mention in literature. The beauty of the movie comes from the way how everybody’s truth and lies differ. The truth is never found eventually because the truth is all dependent on the individuals and all of them are convicts in some way or the other. The guilt in each individual as well as the attempt to save themselves determines the stories. The movie actually throws up a very important question that if the essential data is kept intact the interpretation is completely dependent on the stakeholders. A masterpiece that has been around for over 50 years and even today anyone watching world movies will find it extremely enjoyable. Must watch