Three... Extremes

3 extremes were 3 short stories about extreme situations. Each story has very different qualities and gave the viewer something to enjoy. Not American style, scream queen, psychobabble laden horror films. More intellectual and artistic as the characters are made to look good rather than deviant. Shorts were you can turn off the subtitles and still understand the plot are hard to come by, but these fit the bill. I wish I could speak the languages of the films because the English translation detracted from the emotional content and context. If you like slasher movies and jump out of your seat scary, pass on these. If you like more artistic, intelligent, and subtle horror films, then these shorts are for you. Some blood and minor amounts of gore. A job well done.

I wonder what is behind projects like this. I suppose because it is easy to attract talented filmmakers to do a 45 minute project. Such a thing is usually under our expectations of "long form" meaning that the cinematic effect can be direct and uncomplicated.

I thought "Eros" was extremely interesting in the freedom it gave its directors. Three men usually obsessed with elaboration were freed from that expectation and could give a poem rather than a novel.

The results here are mixed though. That's because Asian horror is often never long form at all. Its one scene extended for a long time and surrounded by explanation.

The disk that came to me had "Dumplings" by Chan first, then "Cut"and "Box" last.

Dumplings was for me the most fascinating. I'm challenged when I see multiple versions of something and among the most interesting of these is two versions of the same film by the same filmmaker. I had seen the extended "Dumplings" which I assume was filmed at the same time and simply edited differently. It had a completely different feel to it in the long version. The unsettling thing about that was that it was more real. The sound effects of the eating and the copulation were identical, a remarkable effect.

In this version, its more otherworldly, and there is one special effect at the end that underscores this and for me took all the horror out of what the woman was doing at the time. Its still Chan and why I watched the disk.

Second up was something from Korean Chan-wook Park I know only his "Old Boy" which is a remarkable mix of junk and genius. The setup here is mostly on the junk side. You can skip it if you watch movies the way I do.

The amazing surprise for me was Takashi Miike's "Box." I was very impressed with "Audition," but for some reason haven't followed up. He's amazingly prolific and it seems that he doesn't think things through before he starts. But this little thing is nearly perfect.

Its a Japanese ghost story with a twist that makes it even more sharp. Its cinematic at its center. You can literally watch it with no voice. Its beautiful, and I will include a few of its scenes in my list of films that handle fabric architecturally. (In this case that includes plastic sheets.)

Its folded in the way I study. It involves three persons, a family. Performers. It involves them performing for audiences and each other, connected by performance, sex, kinship. We have performances of all these types, dreams, visions, hallucinations all neatly nested within each other. Physically, you will see that "in a box" will have several meanings, along the lines of groundhog day (so as not to spoil it), body, enclosing space and spiritual being.

It really is perfect and lovely and haunting. You will watch it over and over.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

This is an excellent blend of three horror films that characterize the ideal representation of Asian cinema. Each story is presented with ordinary people displaying qualities of evil and depravity. These directors use powerful cinematic storytelling elements in exploring their genres. This is not an ordinary horror film with a ghost or a slasher/killer with a knife but a combination of people who are capable of psychotic behavior. While all of the films are not perfect and contain some mildly dull aspects, watching all three will leave you intrigued with the art and approach of the horror genre utilized in various countries Asia. If you can hold your stomach through the first film "Dumplings", you will certainly enjoy one of these stories and won't be disappointed. A disturbingly good movie!!

The idea of having Chan-wook Park, Takashi Miike and Fruit Chan as part of the same DVD set is enough to warrant a purchase. This was the sole reason I watched these three shorts.

While Miike's offering was very enjoyable, and had some interesting scenery and Chan's Dumplngs was also very entertaining, Chan-wook Park stole the show in my opinion.

I now wonder if CUT isn't what SAW should have been.......?

Unfortunately I can't speak on the film too much as I could ruin the story, but if you are a fan of either OLDBOY or Sympathy for Mr Vengeance this short IS A MUST. Chan-wook Park continues to impress me with his creativity, and the camera work in this film was GREAT. There are two directors that I currently find to be very interesting, and I will watch anything they produce. Micheal Haneke is one, Chan-wook Park is another.

I have heard rumours of Sympathy for Ms Vengeance, and I can only hope they are confirmed.

This was an easy purchase.

Three...Extremes is an anthology of three horror films by three respected Asian directors. 

"Dumplings" - Directed by Fruit Chan

In Dumplings, an actress who has entered middle age and begun to lose the attention of her husband to an affair with a younger woman visits Aunt Mei, an old woman who still has the looks of her youth. Aunt Mei has a secret recipe that makes anyone look years younger, but such an unnatural benefit comes from a truly abominable source. I found Dumplings to be absolutely stomach-churning. A horror movie that doesn't even attempt to scare you, but actually tries (and succeeds, in my case) to horrifying you. Not for the squeamish. Even the sound effects eventually became almost more than I could bear. Disturbing and entertaining. - 8/10

"Cut" - Directed by Chan-wook Park

A talented director and his wife are taken captive by a murderous, utterly insane movie extra. Cut is darkly comedic, utterly absurd, and far more meta than the other movies in this collection. It took me a while to figure out whether I liked it or not, but by the end of the segment, I was won over. Like Dumplings, Cut isn't frightening in the conventional sense. Instead, it's flat-out zany (in a good way). - 7/10

"Box" - Directed by Takashi Miike

The most haunting of the three segments. Box is about a jealousy-fueled tragic accident involving two young sisters. The surviving sibling suffers from suffocating (literally) dreams and disturbing visions of her deceased sibling, even years later as an adult. Box is probably the creepiest of the three, and it has a psycho-sexual aspect to it that makes the whole thing even more unsettling. Definitely more of an atmospheric, "mood" movie than the other two. - 8/10

I liked all three segments, as well as the movie as a whole. I found Dumplings to be the most effective/entertaining, but I recommend the entire anthology. The three short films are not only memorable and very different from one another, but they're also fairly unique among the other horror movies that I've seen. 

Overall - 8/10