GL84
Three stories told by emerging Asian directors.The Good Stor(ies)-Dumplings-Finally fearing the advances of age, a middle-aged housewife seeks the advice of a local chef renowned for her curative and seemingly magical dumplings. When the strange dish starts to work, the two begin spending an increasing amount of time together which finally lets her in on the gruesome secret to it's spicy flavor. Overall this was easily the best of the three and really the only one with any kind of merit. The main part of this one is based on the concept of her appearance against the stereotype, which manages to get some great work out of the burgeoning mystery of what she uses to prepare the dish. Once this is finally unveiled and there's the whole truth revealed, it manages to utilize this quite well with the actual revelation sequence coming off as a wholly intense and disturbing sequence that really feels like it gets away with a lot as it's quite a dark and chilling explanation. While the rest of this isn't all that great, especially all the adultery angles throughout here which aren't all that interesting by taking up a large portion of time to get to a mild-mannered resolution, this is still the best part about this whole effort.The Bad Stor(ies)-Cut-Returning home from a movie shoot, a big-time director finds himself and his wife kidnapped and held hostage on the movie set by a deranged extra. Forcing him into a series of extremely brutal games, he gradually begins to uncover the real reason behind the encounter. This one was just lame and completely unworthwhile as the biggest factor against this is the main plot for it. It's simply not scary as the rationale is so inherently stupid it's a wonder it made it through to the final approval, the purpose of performing the capture and torture just don't make sense and the whole thing could've been ended on numerous occasions without any harm done had there been more interest in removing himself from the situation without regard for his captors' well-being. Still more flawed is the fact that this one then spends an indefinite amount of time recounting a series of grievances against each other doesn't tend to make this move along at the briskest of paces. Likewise, the fact that this is billed as having him torture them for their behavior and position in society then skimps out on the torture leaving only the impact of their final retribution against him as the only gory bit in the whole story just seems completely infallible. All in all, this was a truly terrible segment.Box-Tormented by strange dreams, a woman begins to feel as though her twin sister has come back from the dead to haunt her. Trying to find the confidence to shake off the experience, she finds her closer than she initially expected. Once again, this is another just truly outright terrible segment as the main focus here is again completely removed from horror. The only real interesting part of this is the back-story explanation for their situation as the two sisters performing a ballerina routine succumb to jealousy from misappropriated preference towards their father and the resulting encounter one day unleashing an accident that consumes one in a hellish blaze, but beyond that this is just so slow that it's agonizing to get through yet is the quickest one running time. The long sections of wordless moments that pass by are just dull and lifeless, and there's even less to like about once this tries to become interesting as what happens isn't really horror anyway. This is a curious and questionable inclusion that really lowers this considerably.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Language, Brief Nudity, a mild sex scene, strong themes of incest and pre-natal mutilation.
Jamie Lee (jaythejza)
After watching the likes of "V/H/S", I was intrigued in looking out for better horror themed anthology movies. Considering I am a fan of Japanese & Asian Movies, particularly horror, "Three... Extremes (Saam Gaang Yi)" seemed just what I was looking for. A trilogy of short films from Asia's acclaimed horror directors, China's Fruit Chan with "Dumplings", Korea's Chan-Wook Park with "Cut" & Japan's Takashi Miike with "Box". They were a very good combination & do fit the theme of extreme, just not quite what I was expecting in a way. It's more extreme in the subjects within each segment, as opposed to extreme horror. I watched this with no expectations, while I did enjoy the movie, so to speak, I was expecting to be more scared, as opposed to creeped out & disturbed.The first segment, "Dumplings", is a very peculiar story about a woman's need to feel and look youthful, for her husbands attention. She seeks out a chef whose dumplings may hold the key to youth, but little does she know what disturbing ingredients are required for these dumplings. The short had an interesting story, but if anything, did feel a little light. I guess this has been fleshed out a little in the extended feature of "Dumplings" (Which I have yet to watch). "Dumplings" certainly finds its extreme in the subjects the short tackles, rather than any traditional horror shocks."Cut", The second feature of three, is completely different, if not close to traditional horror movies, in it's gruesome scenes, but with Park's own confusing spin on the short. Think "Saw" mixed with Park's own "Oldboy" this story revolves around a movie director, who clearly has a good life, confront the realities of his life, thanks to an extra from one of his movies creating a tortuous "game" with his life. Its quite a bizarre movie, with rather grotesque torture & horror elements, mixed in with some dark & comedic moments, all topped off with a shocking ending, that is open to many interpretations. Again, this movie does tackle some dark subjects, but not quite as dark as the other two shorts. This short is more about visual & confusion elements, something it delivers well.Last, but certainly not the least was Takashi Miike's "Box", my favourite of the three. This is the story of a female writer, and her coming to terms with a strange & significant box from her past and the dreams she has associated with it. I thought the cinematography was excellent in this short, simple things like the jerkiness of the camera to add tension during one scene, to the way music & sound was and also wasn't used in key scenes, really added to the surreal feel of the film. It simply captivated me throughout, with it's atmosphere, grand sets, symbolism and the unnerving feel it gave you whilst watching. Add to this is Miike's trait for leaving his movies open to many interpretations & you have a great end that can be taken in so many ways, with each persons view being different! As much as Its strange to say, I did enjoy this movie, it did achieve what it had set out to do, just not quite like what I had expected. One thing I will say is that if your easily offended or disturbed by taboo subjects, This isn't for you. For those that aren't, then sit back & prepare yourself for three very different short films from Asia's best bizarre horror directors.
jackmeat
The movie is actually 3 unique stories released as one film. Each story represents a different "idea" so to speak. Without going into detail per story, each is crafted extremely well in all aspects of true film. Granted, this is a foreign movie, so it is subtitled (the version I saw) but this does not distract to the acting in the slightest. The acting in "Cut" stood out most to me as the crazy slowly fell apart throughout his hostage taking ordeal. "Box" was a cinematography 101 class of how to show style, scenery, and environment to hold the attention to an otherwise fairly bland plot. The startling subject matter of "Dumplings" not only may revolt some viewers, but is also the best of the three to draw you into the story and round it out with quality acting that is very subtle. I suggest you go in blind to this one, as I did, the payoff is quite good. Enjoy. 6.3/10 (original title Saam Gaang Yi)
