"Bin Jip" is the original title of film. It translates to empty house.
Why the *beep* is the english title "3 iron"?? I know people used the golf club to attack other people in the film, but common, wouldnt you all agree that "bin jip" is a way better title and more appropriate than "3 iron"? Why would you name it something totally different from the original title? Kinda pisses me off.
Hi, I hate that awful translations also. In Spanish the title is "El espíritu de la pasión" which means kinda "The spirit of the passion"... ¡¡Hello!!
shareAnd in Italy we have both: "Ferro 3, la casa vuota". Litterally "3 Iron - The empty house" :-)
shareThe german title is: "Bin Jip - Leere Häuser", which means "Bin Jip - empty houses". :-)
sharethe reason they change the title is not out of stupidity, its designed to suit the territory they are being sold in. just like product advertising i.e. a can of coke (for example) will have to be sold differently in each country because of the ideaologies held within a community/nation. Obviously, in this case, they felt that Empty Houses wouldnt sum up the film/appeal to the masses and its also a pretty definate title, whereas '3 Iron' is a lot more ambigious, it makes you want to pick up the DVD to read the blurb (not everone is a golfer so they might not see the connection)
joe
I read somewhere, I can't remember where, that the reason it was called 3-iron in the U.S. is because the 3-iron is one of the least used clubs in a golf bag, it is neglected while the other clubs are favored. And in the film, the young man (i can't remember his name in the film but his real name is Jae Hee (one of my fav. actors))chooses the 3-iron to take out of the violent-husband's golf bag and he keeps it with him throughout the film. Perhaps the director is saying that the young man is similar to the 3-iron club( neglected?), I don't know. You can interpret it however you want I guess. :)
shareInteresting... all of it - why are the names so different? I like your reasoning aurora56; and, in fact, I love the title 3-iron. Whenever I use a 3-iron (or someone speaks of one), I reminisce shortly on the film. "Empty houses" is not a phrase you hear too often, and so the imagery and recollection of this movie would eventually disappear from my memory bank if not for the lasting title :)
***so many movies***so little time***
I have to admit that the title "Empty House" doesn't have much appeal. In English it sounds extreme boring. "3-Iron" isn't that great, but at least it describes something present in the movie rather than, literally, the lack of presence in a house.
sharei would hope one day we may live in a world where movie titles from other countries are titled by literall translation and not by what sounds better in a particular country.
shareActually, I think it would be great if the title, in English, were simply "Binjip." Unfortunately, most Americans would have no idea what "Binjip" means.
shareYeah, youre right men, BIN JIP sounds pretty cool, way better than EMPTY HOUSES... But I think the how-cool-does-tht-title-sounds really isnt to important.
What it is really important is that the title matches or at least has something to do with the movie. In that sense Empty Houses goes better than 3 iron or whatever other translation there is.
Marketing is a little more important than getting the name right. It doesn't matter what it's called if no one sees it.
shareIts stupid to try to appeal to golf connoisseurs to watch an "arthouse" film. This marketing didnt really make bin jip a multi million dollar success.
Also, in kim ki duks case, marketing isnt that important. He has a cult following, that recognizes his work and looks for them to watch and waits for the next film to come out, as opposed to troy or fantasic four, these films are advertised and just advertising. Without jessica alba or repetitive brainwashing commercials to watch the crap, noone would watch it.
I'm not disagreeing with you on any of those points, but I still think the change makes the slightest degree of sense.
shareIf I might add to this thread:
Before seeing this movie, but especially coming to this forum after seeing it, the American title 3-Iron did not make sense at all to me, because I was literally thinking of iron (the metal). It wasn't until I came here that I actually learned that a 3-Iron is a golf club, and apparently the least favoured by devout golf players.
So, the title Bin-Yip didn't mean anything to me either before I came here to find out, but at least it sounded much more interesting and elegant than 3-Iron. Maybe it's just the un-educated side of me, but if this movie would have been presented as 3-Iron in my TV guide, I would probably not even have seen it. (Though I do check the star ratings they give to movies, and four stars often is an indication that there's a real beauty waiting for me; five stars are a rarity.)
But, to get back to my point: what did they try to convey with the translated title? To me, Empty Houses sounds a lot better.
"Things fall down. People look up. And when it rains, it poors."
In french speaking countries, this film's title is "Locataires" which means "renters". I think that's a good title, Tae-Suk somehow just rent the houses that he lives in. Besides, the lack of the pronoun (normally it should be "Les locataires"), that is almost never eluded before a noun in french, with the mark of the plural ("s") makes this title misterious and appealing.
I think titles should have an almost litteraly translation, or even let it in it's original language. Golf is an important part of the main character's personality but it's not like the only feature that can sum the whole movie up. But, like someone said, "empty house" is not very original.
My conclusion: We should keep the title the director has originally choosed. Like we do here (Switzerland) with a lot of american movies. American pie, 7th Heaven, Mission: Impossible, all that kind of movies that we don't dare to translate, by fear of aggravate them ;)
in Romania it is titled "Menaj in trei" literally translated as threesome or menage a trois. except for the violence in this movie, i think it is one of the reasons they rated it 15 :|
shareQuite frankly, 3-Iron ends up being a better title than Empty Houses. For the movie as a whole, golf actually ends up being a more prevalent element than the empty homes.
shareIn the Netherlands it is simply called "Bin-jip".
I prefer it if movies retain their original title, but I understand it if the distributors in some (a lot of) countries change/translate the titles.
However IMO, with keeping the original title you keep some of the movie's charm.
For instance, take:
-Lola Rennt vs Run, Lola, Run(German)
-La Cite des Enfants Perdeus vs City of Lost Children (French)
-El Labirinto del Fauno vs Pan's Labyrinth (Spanish)
-Soldaat van Oranje vs Soldier of Orange vs *shudder* Survival Run (Dutch)
and
-Bin-jip would have been Leeg Huis or 3 ijzer in Dutch *cry*
And, except for children's movies, movies should NEVER be dubbed. That's just plain wrong. But then again, that's just my opinion, to each his own.
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