Cutting Happiness

Cut was the first short that I saw from Three Extremes. I guess that’s because when I saw the preview for this, I wanted to know why there was a woman strung up with wire. Even with my curiosity, I still managed to fall asleep during this section. This short story is about a director who gets kidnapped by one of the extras from his movie. When he wakes up he finds himself tied up, his wife gagged and strung up to a piano and next to him on a couch is a little girl. Turns out the extra wants him to do something bad otherwise he’ll cut off one of his wife’s fingers every five minutes. Sure, it sounds a little stupid but there is something at work here… it tapes into the question of why there are good people and why are there bad people?

This extra has a very interesting reason to be pissed at the director. From what he tells us, his father was alcoholic, abusive, unloving and his mother wouldn’t do anything about it. He grew up on the wrong side of the tracks and when he became a father he would drink, abuse his son and smack his wife. The director on the other hand grew up in a rich family that loved him, he worked hard to get to where he was, even if a crew member messed a shot up he would still smile it off, he has a wife whom he loves and it seems like he is content with his life. What would drive somebody to attack a person this nice and force them to do something as bad as killing a kid?

I think this movie taps into a part of us that we like to hide when we are angry or jealous. Have you ever been jealous of somebody or just angered because they seem to have everything they want and you don’t have anything? I know I have, it’s human instinct. How many people are out there that were born into abusive families, that deserve to have some shred of happiness but never gets it? I think Cut address the idea of being jealous of someone who has happiness. Its also rather sad because it’s about somebody who has been depressed, beaten and scarred and will never know what happiness is because of his upbringing. I guess knowing that will drive anybody insane.

Beautiful Dumplings

As part of a new year’s resolution I have decided to actually watch 3 Extremes in its entirety because I only got midway through Cut before I turned it off. Why? Because back then, when I was about 15 or so, I didn’t have the patience for Asian horror movies. So I gave the entire anthology another shot and I really enjoyed it. I loved it so much that I am going to write down my thoughts for each short story per day. That means, today I want to briefly discuss Dumplings, a story that is rather disturbing not only in the sense of what’s in the dumplings but how crazy people are willing to go to obtain youth and beauty.

Without spoiling anything, Dumplings is about a rich woman named Mrs. Li who is loosing her youth and beauty as she ages. She finds out that her husband is having an affair with his younger masseuse so she decides to try to rejuvenate herself. This leads her to Aunt Mei, a young chef who has claimed to have found the secret to eternal youth and beauty. The secret is baked and powdered in the form of delicious dumplings but little does the Mrs. Li realize… that the secret to the dumpling’s revitalizing power is unspeakably dark but even if she knew the secret, would she still want to eat the dumplings?

Personally, as disturbing as the ‘secret ingredient’ is I have to say that it’s even more disturbing that Mrs. Li still continues to eat the dumplings. (Okay, I just answered the question above so it’s not really a cliffhanger but still…). I think that’s what this film is mocking, just how far people are willing to go to try to make themselves look younger and to retain their beauty. It’s true! People are willing to get toxins injecting into their faces, having doctors insert liquid plastic or plastic plates to make their cheeks looks broader, chemical peels and artificial tans… all to look younger. Dumplings perfectly satirizes these people but at the same time makes a point. I think it goes further than that because all the men in this story seem to be only interested in younger women even if it means adultery or underage rape. It’s a grim comedy of replenished youth wrapped up in a nice packaged and delivered in one of the most beautifully shot horror movies I’ve seen.