 | Movie title: 3 Extremes Starring: Ling Bai ....Mei (segment "Dumplings"), Pauline Lau....Li's Maid (segment "Dumplings"), Tony Leung Ka Fai....Lee (segment "Dumplings"), Byung-hun Lee....Director (segment "Cut"), Won-hie Lim....Stranger (segment "Cut"), Hye-jeong Kang ....Director's Wife (segment "Cut"), Kyoko Hasegawa....Kyoko (segment "Box"), Atsuro Watabe....Yoshii/Higata (segment "Box"), Mai Suzuki....Kyoko (Age 10) (segment "Box"), Yuu Suzuki ....Shoko (Age 10) (segment "Box") Directed by: Fruit Chan, Chan-wook Park,Takashi Miike
Written by: Haruko Fukushima, Lilian Lee, Chan-wook Park, Bun Saikou
Genre: Horror
Year: 2004
Country: Korea, Japan, China
Language: Chinese, Korean, Japanese
Runtime: 125 min
Media: DVD
Imdb:
Rating: 8
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Three Asian directors, from Hong Kong, Korea and Japan, join forces to create an omnibus horror film, Three...Extremes, a sequel of sorts to the 2002 Hong Kong/Korean/Thai production Three. In Fruit Chan's "Dumplings," shot by Christopher Doyle, Mrs. Li (Miriam Yeung), a thirtysomething former actress with a philandering husband (Tony Leung) goes to visit Aunt Mei (Bai Ling), who sells the most expensive dumplings in Hong Kong. Mrs. Li knows about their rejuvenating powers, and she also knows about their unpleasant main ingredient, but after some initial nausea, she digs right in. In Oldboy writer/director Park Chan-wook's "Cut," a successful filmmaker (Lee Byung-hun of Joint Security Area) arrives home to find that a disgruntled extra (Lim Won-hee) has taken over his home, and fastened his pianist wife (Kang Hye-jun of Oldboy) to the grand piano. The madman threatens to cut off the wife's fingers, one by one, unless the director strangles the helpless child he's tied to the couch. Takashi Miike directs the last segment, "Box," about a young author and former circus performer, Kyoko (Kyoko Hasegawa) seemingly haunted by the ghost of her twin sister, who died a mysterious and horrible death while practicing their act. Adding to Kyoko's trauma, her editor (Atsuro Watabe) is a dead ringer for her old stepfather/ringmaster, who may have perished in the same "accident" that took her sister's life.
Starting with the first of the three shorts in this collection Dumplings is a story in the vein of Sweeney Todd. Aunt Mei (Bai ling) sells her dumplings with powers and a secret ingredient. This short starts out well enough and has a decent pace. There are two main twists in this version which make the story more interesting. There could be more as the 2 disc DVD set comes with a full length version of Dumplings. Although I don't see the need to extend the original out I'd have to see the full length to really know.
Second on the disc is Cut which is my personal favorite of the three. It's got the best set pieces, imaginative torture setup and similar to Chan-wook Park's Oldboy a completely F'ed up story line. One of the things I enjoy most about Park is his ability to slide in nearly ridiculous comedic moments but make them fit the characters and the setting which strengthens the film. There is even a fart joke in there for good measure. The only problem I had was the same problem I had with Oldboy. The ending slips into an awkward madness that doesn't fit quite right.
Lastly, is Box by Miike. I am a big Takashi Miike fan but this has to be the worst film I've ever seen him make. Where his movie like Gozu messes around with reality but never leaves the audience completely lost Box seems to start out like a very slow standard Japanese ghost movie and slowly drags into beautiful but confusing visuals that left me more bored than scared. The pacing on the film is just awful. I was more concerned about just staying awake then with the plight of the main heroine. Hopefully Miike can continue the high standard visuals presented in Box (which are probably his best to date) but move onto more of his crazy better paced ideas.
This collection is a great place to either start viewing Asian horror or to see your favorite director do something a little different.
