A trinity of
terror, a grimoire of grotesqueries, and revelry of repulsion makes this
association of agony a delectable danse macabre. Three Asian filmmakers
contribute short fiction, sharing a common vein of horror and visceral dread
that is a contagion of subversive delight.
DUMPLINGS (Fruit
Chan): Christopher Doyle’s gorgeous cinematography captures an apathetic
actress who is past her prime: though carrying the stolid dignity of middle
age, Mei is relegated to the doldrums of a listless marriage and spent career.
She visits a seemingly young woman whose recipe for eternal youth is
impregnated in her supple dumplings. Chan is able to create tension with a
nervous zeal as Mei becomes trapped by her own desires, and obsessed by her own
temporary beauty. The narrative’s hook is engaging and fulfilling, imbued with
a delicious fancy of aborted treats. When Mei’s addictive umbilicus is
terminated…she must devour her own. Final Cut: (B+)
CUT (Park
Chan-wook): A young and successful film director becomes part of a psychopathic
parable, now the main character in a gruesome novelty act as an invisible extra
now has final cut. Park blurs the line between cinema and reality, showing the
fictional set and director’s home as host to this horror, subverting structural
perspectives by pulling focus from narrative conventions. A mixture of the four
humours and humor, the director is punished for being a good and humble man,
rich and celebrated for his work, while the vile actor is a cold-blooded
murderer who blames the world for his woes, and finds cold comfort in
corrupting this honest man. The set design is lavish, imaginative, and
graphically revealing as minute by minute the director’s wife, a pianist, has
her fingers chopped off until he (the director) chokes a small child to death.
Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men…and women. Final Cut: (B+)
BOX (Takashi
Miike): Kyoko is a lonely writer who hides away in a dilapidated apartment,
suffering a recurring nightmare of being buried alive in a small box. Miike
builds intensity by conjuring forth an atmosphere of ghostly visuals and
haunting childhood echoes, as Kyoko is burdened with a fiery guilt and fatherly
penitence. With allusions to incest and sibling rivalry, Miike’s complex story
doesn’t offer up any obstinate answers but lets the mystery deepen while gravel
taps nervously upon a box…being slowly buried in the cold hard ground. Final Cut:
(B)
