I know this was written already in the other thread, but I wanted to start a new topic with another question added to the one listed already.
Why was he playing golf? I initally thought it was his way of venting his stress or getting his mind off of things, but I don't know. What do you think?
Second question: Why was the girl blocking his way?
I thought that he played golf just to kill time, while waiting for the results of his investigation on which house is empty or not.
IMHO, she blocked his way because he playing golf remembered her about her husband.
Hmmm. Perhaps golf is a metaphor:
A man with a golf club is endowed with an artificial power, an advantage over the object in front of him - a golf ball. He can whack it into submission (in the hope that it will submit and do what he wants - namely land in the hole!)
What we see is that the boyfriend does the same with his lady - beats her in the pursuit of his desires (ie, to spread her legs) - only this time with his hand. When the young guy fires golf balls at the guy who belts his wife, isn't he just beating him with his own stick. Showing him that its easy to persecute those weaker than yourself (ie, without male strength or a golf club).
When the lead male later kills a random female car passenger by firing a golf ball through the windscreen, perhaps the directors trying to say that mankind through his silly, absurd and ultimately futile games can easily end up hurting someone innocent and vulnerable.
Wow... yeah.
I think thats it. oô
Sums up everything pretty well and yeah, thats maybe exactly what Kim intended to say with the golfing.
Thanks for your insightful thoughts.
Yeah, you should be right.
I think also the golf symbolises the violence and abuse against a human being. Unwilling to let the ball fly, the guy tied it, but this turned out to be a dangerous game - the only time she didn't succeed in stopping him, the ball caused suffer. The golf is the way of causing pain.
You now, in general golf is not the game of the ordinary people...
Sorry for my poor English.
When watching this film I thought that the reason she stepped in front of him was to see if he (still) liked/loved her. The ball was tied up, but if you like something or someone so much, you might not want to take the risk, however small it might be. That's why he didnt swing when she was in front of him, and this was her way of finding out if their love was still alive.
I thought the 'accident' also made this more clear, but I might be wrong.
I thought it could about failure of communication. Before the golf ball went loose I thought, she wanted to tell him, that he should spend time with her instead of that stupid game, or maybe that she wanted to test him if he would strike anyway if she's standing in front of the ball (maybe even wanting to get hit, as she might be masochistic, staying with that husband).
But after this accident I thought, that maybe this was exactly what she wanted to tell him: don't do that, it's dangerous.
-> Misunderstandings happen if you communicate with words, but also without words.
That is a superb interpretation. Thanks for sharing.
shareIt's obvious: he plays golf to waste time, and she gets tired of watching him playing golf and wants to do something else. There's really nothing else to it.
share[deleted]
I like that intepretation very much. I was puzzled by the car scene too.
shareI don't know why the golfing, but on question 2, I have something. The other people are probably right on their interpretations, as well, though. Just I got the feeling that she was testing him. She'd been in a relationship with a psycho who would get wound up and beat up on her for the smallest thing, especially if she prevented him of doing what he wanted (have sex with her). So she enjoys the liberty of being able to come between this guy and his hobby, safe from being beat up on. In a way it's a display of trust. "I trust you enough to annoy you, because I know you're such a good person you won't beat the crap out of me for it".
Of course it could also just be that she sees that it's dangerous. (ref. the scene where he does the ball-tied-to-tree thing the first time, and some passers by are spooked)
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There are lots of grasshoppers in the weeds.
But not like Wilbur!
The fact that the ball is tied to the tree is important. It could symbolize the boy’s entrapment in his own life. His girl is afraid of him breaking free, because she suspects this to screw things up.
This suspicion is confirmed by the accident with the car.
erm....could it not be that he just LIKES golf?
did no one else notice that during the jail cell scenes, when he punched someone it made the sound of a golf club hitting a ball?
in jail he imagined he was playing golf. then the other guy stole his ball when he put it down for the third(?) time and he got angry and attacked him, maybe it's not actually deep symbolism at all. just likes it.
i think when Sun-hwa stood in front Tae-suk it was her way of seeing if she could trust him (someone mentioned this i think...). would he hit the ball anyway? with no care about whether or not it hit her?
you know, to see if he would act like her husband.
to see if he really cared.
First of all, he wasn't the only one playing. He wasn't special. Even his little playing device was copied. Golf I think is somekind of line in the plot. When the ball is set free,all the troubles began. And when his golf stuffes disapeared (the scenes in the prison), he also dissapeared. Something in his life changed, and for that reason, he also changed.
shareThat is the way I saw it also.
As others in this thread have alluded to, golf represented violence (whether intentional or accidental). If you watch the film again, (and I intend to do so again and then again and then...) virtually every expression of anger or act of violence is perpetrated by some form of golf equipment - especially the titular 3-iron.
Yes I believe that it's perfectly correct to say that Tae-suk chose to take up golf as a way of passing time, but we also saw that it was a way for him to express his anger and violence on others. Golf was a conduit for his negative feelings. Despite his noble intentions, the manner he chose to save Sun-hwa from her abusive husband was through the violent use of her husband's (himself a violent man) favorite sport, (in a manner that came back to haunt him later in the film). It was also the same club and ball that he used on the husband that he was later using to practice so incessantly with, and Sun-hwa recognised that golf reduced this gentle soul that she silently observed in her house earlier to act in that same manner that her husband casually did. This was the reason I interpreted as why she tried to stop him from hitting the ball.
Tae-suk became trapped by his own anger and frustration. Even when in prison, he was reduced to hitting imaginary balls with an imaginary 3-iron which almost instantly resulted in another act of violence. But it was only when he was released from his own anger in solitary confinement that he began to move (or awaken - hence the eye on hand) to a higher level of self knowledge.
You can also probably conclude that Ki-duk Kim doesn't like golf :-)
She stepped infront of him every time because his golfing reminded her of her husband's love for golf, and she didn't like to be reminded of the abuse she went through.
share>>"She stepped infront of him every time because his golfing reminded her of her husband's love for golf, and she didn't like to be reminded of the abuse she went through"<<
That's partly what I was saying but I think it ran deeper than that. 3 Iron is the type of film that rewards repeated viewings and on my second look, certain things became clearer and the golfing metaphor was one of them.
When he was attacking the husband in an act of "saving" her, you will notice that she seemed deeply disturbed by his actions. They were at variance to the gentle, non-threatening soul that she quietly observed in her house moments earlier. Golf represented more than just a reminder of her husband, it was also a reminder of what it did to Tae-suk or what he became whilst playing it, (which for me was the principle reason why she tried to stop him). Golf was a metaphor for violence and vengeance. There are several scenes where he uses golf (or has it used against him) as a means of aggression or vengeance on others, including the scene in the prison cell where he beats up the warden with a non-existent 3-iron and the scene where he accidentally injures/kills the woman in the car – it didn’t matter that it was completely unintentional – playing golf still resulted in a random act of violence. It was these two scenes in particular that served to further reinforce the metaphor in my eyes.
Having said that though, I don’t really have a problem with golf acting as a reminder of Sun-hwa’s husband and Tae-suk playing it as a means of passing time – it’s all open to varying interpretation, and what helps to make Bin Jip such a wonderful film
"Golf was a metaphor for violence and vengeance."
that explains the ball going around in circles. maybe to symbolize the unending cyclic nature of revenge. maybe this was the real reason she kept standing in his way. a gesture to say. "baby you don't wanna hit those balls. it's only gonna cause an unending cycle of tragedy. how bout you tap this instead?"
instead of beating up on the husband again, he chose to just remain invisible to him. this way the husband was able to be happy despite his affair with his wife. everyone comes out happy. harmony?
of course the boy didn't fully learn considering he went to town on the Cop after he got out of prison.
I agree with what some ppl said, he played to vent anger and enjoy himself tho it made passerbys uncomfortable/fearful/angry with- the same way they react to finding him in their homes. Both seemingly innocent yet dangerous hobbies also had violent consequences - head injury and being put in jail.
I thought while watching this both times that by blocking the way she had some masochistic problems to work out or something. I like the other interpretations here better, but that shiner stayed with her for the first third of the movie and I saw her as a very bleak self-despising woman before her time with Tae-guk (I think thats his name, I never catch the names of characters in these miminalist movies). She just seemed to be inviting of the ball, maybe to test him or something. All the other reasons are good but her sadness at the beginning made me think of it this way.