Another rare excursion for me into the horror genre, this time a non-Angelica/Karena viewing.
* THREE… EXTREMES *
"Box" – Kyoko Hasegawa, Atsuro Watabe – Dir: Miike Takashi – 2004 – Japan
"Dumplings" – Bai Ling, Miriam Yeung – Dir: Fruit Chan – 2004 – Hong Kong
"Cut" – Lee Byung-Hun, Lim Won-Hee, Gang Hye-Jung – Dir: Park Chan-Wook – 2004 – South Korea
Three… Extremes is the follow-up to the successful mini-trilogy of three short horror films, Three. I have to admit that I haven’t seen the original, so I won’t be making any comparisons with it.
Three… Extremes is divided into three segments, each directed by three of Asia’s leading independent directors.
"Box" is the Japanese segment and tells of Kyoko, a woman haunted by the memory and dreams of her childhood. She and sister, Shoko, were circus dancers when aged ten. Out of jealousy and seeking attention, Kyoko locks her sister in a box, but accidentally, she knocks over a stove that sets fire to the box. Full of remorse, her memories continue to haunt her through to adulthood when those memories become more real.
"Dumplings" is the Chinese segment. Miriam Yeung plays Qing, a former actress who is now retired and married to a successful businessman. However, unable to conceive and have a child, she visits Mei, a woman whose magic speciality is her dumplings that people swear by. However, these dumplings have an unusual, but gruesome, ingredient.
"Cut" is the Korean segment. Lee Byung-Hun is a film director and all round nice guy. He returns home and is knocked out and when he comes round, a stranger (Lim Won Hee) has him and his wife tied up. Wishing to take revenge on the nice guy, he threatens to chop off his wife’s fingers, and the director has to decide what he has to do.
These are three very well written stories, all of them simple but well executed. With three leading independent art-house directors, the cinematography is brilliant particularly with Christopher Doyle’s (Hero, 2046) input as cinematographer in "Dumplings". And whilst I wouldn’t say the films were that scary (I’m not scared easily), they are quite graphic and thought-provoking, and in some cases stomach churning. Particularly in "Dumplings" which was somewhat controversial in context. If you thought the abortion scene in Alfie was controversial, we’ve come a long way since then. After all, there’s a reason why ‘Extremes’ is in the title. With all the good direction, this was matched up with the acting performances of all the leads.
All in all, this is a good collage of films. And if you want to see more, an feature-length extended version of "Dumplings" has been released on DVD as well.
One for blood.
Links:
IMDb entry
Buy this at YesAsia: Three… Extremes | Dumplings – Three… Extremes