Dumplings
...Three Extremes

2004
Color
CAT. III
91 mins. Version
Dir. Fruit Chan

Cast:
Bai Ling
Miriam Yeung
Tony Ka-Fai Leung

Order Availability: YES See Below

Screen Shots by kyonsi.com

Is it soup yet? Has a new meaning...
Review by Allen F.

The first thing I can say about this new film Dumplings...Three Extremes is I was captivated by this weirdly interesting tale of modern day cannibalism. This is a review of the 91 min. full length version. Not only was I very attentive so was my wife and she's one that normally will pass on CAT. III gore or anything of cannibalistic nature. This is the first Fruit Chan film I have seen, and I was impressed with the filming techniques and rich colors throughout the film.

Dumplings has an amazing cast starring Bai Ling (Sky Captain and..), Miriam Yeung (My Lucky Star), and
Tony Ka-Fai Leung (Double Vision). So far we have good production, direction and actors. A good way to start off. Both actresses are beautiful and great in there roles. Also Tony Leung is well cast as Lee the husband.

Dumplings follows the exploits of Ching (Yeung) as she patronizes Aunt Mei's (Ling) homemade dumpling shop She becomes very obsessed and almost addicted to the dumplings and their supposed fountain of youth type effect making you look and feel younger. Her older husband Lee (Leung) has been messing around with a young chick and Ching wants his attention completely on her not others. She visits Aunt Mei more and more asking for more potent dumplings to speed up the transformation. Of course we all know that anything that has to do with dirty deeds like this can and will have its consequences and it does. I will not tell you about that though. The ingredient in the dumplings is given up very early on. It is a bit more extreme than the pork buns in The Bunman (Untold Story) films years ago. These dumplings need a more delicate pinkish ingredient. You may never eat pot stickers or dumplings again after this film. There are some twists that I will not give away, but one of the twists caught me off guard at the end. The other big twist was fairly obvious yet not let out right away.

I enjoyed this film and it even has a bit of a art house flavor (ha ha) to it.This is not really a horror movie like its marketed as, but it's definitely a dark film. Not for everyone but both me and my spouse were impressed with the DVD. The special nutritious ingredient is sick and shows just how far people would go to stay young looking. The shorter version was just released but is on the Three Extremes Comp DVD and runs around 40 minutes. This film is way out there. Sick, Twisted and Recommended.
Now that's fancy fast food!