A-

Korean writer-director Kim Ki-duk, whose exquisite “Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter…and Spring” was one of the most extraordinary films of 2004, creates an urban tale of similarly dreamlike character in this odd but intoxicating tale of a young drifter and the abused wife who embraces him as the antithesis of her brutal husband. “3-Iron” may be titled after a golf club, which does play a persistent part in the story, but it takes a narrative path full of sharp turns rather than the straight-line drive a less imaginative artist would have built on its unusual initial premise.

The film opens with youngster Yae-seok (impassive, delicately handsome Jae Hee) making the rounds on his sleek motorcycle, attaching circulars to doors throughout the neighborhoods he visits. Later he returns to the area, and if he finds one of the fliers still in place, breaks into the residence, assuming that the owner is away–something the telephone answering machine will usually confirm. But he doesn’t rob or vandalize the place; instead he settles in for a while, showering, eating, resting–and investigating the occupants’ possessions. And he cleans up after himself, leaving behind only one or two carefully chosen alterations to signal his presence and making sure to clean up and even fix appliances he finds on the fritz. The plot kicks in when he enters a posh mansion and goes about his usual routine until he discovers a beaten woman–Seon-hwa (solemnly lovely Lee Seuyng-yeon)–silently watching him. He flees, but returns to find her husband Min-gyu (oily Gweon Hyeok-ho) beating her and gives the fellow a taste of his own medicine with the 3-iron he’s extracted from the man’s golf bag and a few well-aimed balls. Seon-hwa then joins Yae-seok on his traversal of other people’s homes, and without a word being spoken between them, they become closer and closer, supporting one another through one episode in which they’re caught by a returning couple and an even more serious one in which they break into the house of a deceased man and are taken into police custody after burying him. This incident leads to the woman’s being returned to her husband and the young man, after being mistreated by Min-gyu (who reciprocates the golf-ball treatment), being incarcerated. But their lives have been utterly altered: she refuses to speak to her husband and remains lost in her memories of Yae-seok, while he–in a turn that takes the film into mysticism–develops powers that enable him to revenge himself on the crooked cop who turned him over to Min-gyu and then to return to Seon-hwa in a very unusual way. (Of course, this latter portion of the film–even more than what’s preceded it–has a hallucinatory quality suggestive of a dream, but as the final caption to the film notes, it’s difficult to distinguish between dream and reality.)

“3-Iron” (the original Korean title of which meant “Empty Houses”) can be interpreted as a tale of redemptive romance with large doses of religious imagery, but overanalysis along those lines would strain the delicate, melancholy beauty that’s at its core. This is a film that engages on a nearly subconscious level, touching the heart in a defiantly un-intellectual, quite mysterious way. The best approach to the film is to take it on its own terms, savoring its mixture of serene grace and grim realism, which is most clearly shown in its periodic bursts of violence. Within that context, it should be noted, there are occasional moments of gentle humor, which are sometimes crossed with darker elements. Consider, for example, another aspect of the golf motif–Tae-seok’s obsession with practicing his stroke using a ball tied to a tree or post. It seems a harmless diversion except for the fact that Seon-hwa, in a masochistic gesture, stands in front of the ball, inviting it to hit her, to prevent him from hitting it; and the ritual becomes tragic when the ball comes loose and hits a car, generating laughter that quickly turns to shock with the realization that a woman riding in it has been hurt, perhaps fatally. Kim’s facility in melding such disparate elements into a cohesive whole is a remarkable accomplishment. He’s blessed with excellent leads, with Jae Hee anchoring the picture with a performance that takes him from detached observer to righteous avenger to ethereal presence with a wondrous sense of placidity, and Lee Seung-yeon matching him in quiet intensity; amazingly, the two go through the film saying barely a word, but their faces speak volumes. Gweon Hyeok-ho supports them well as the nasty husband, and the rest of the cast carry their responsibilities with ease. Technically the film has an elegant simplicity, with Jang Seung-baek’s photography offering crystalline textures, especially in the transcendent final scenes. The result isn’t as lush and sumptuous as the outdoor setting of “Spring,” but it has a special quality all its own.

A 3-iron may be a fairly heavy implement, but this film named after it has a lightness that makes it float as dextrously as its gravity-defying hero does toward the close. It’s an entrancing, uplifting fable that invites you to luxuriate in its hypnotic tempo and almost magical ambience.