A short synopsis and vote on each of the 3 films in THREE...EXTREMES:
BOX (Takashi Miike) - Kyoko is haunted by the accidental death of her sister. She has severe nightmares and has a hard time differentiating between her nightmares and reality. How much of what Kyoko envisions is dream, and how much is reality... 7 out of 10
DUMPLINGS (Fruit Chan) - centers around a woman who uses a sickening "special ingredient" for her dumplings, which causes age-reversing effects in those that eat them... 8.5 out of 10
CUT (Park Chan-Wook) - A film director who apparently lives the "ideal" life, is thrown into a hellish nightmare when he is confronted by one of his previous employees... 8.5 out of 10
I enjoyed THREE...EXTREMES for the most part. Each film had a unique style and vision, and all were good in their own way. I preferred BOX the least because it was the most slow and plodding, and it was the one I could make the least sense of. In fact all 3 films have strange, abstract endings that leave a lot open to individual interpretations. I have read many peoples ideas on the endings of each of these films, and many reviewers have some decent insights - but I still think it's up to the individual to take what they will from these films. Also, BOX has the "creepiest" atmosphere, but the least actual violence. DUMPLINGS had a very sickly humorous, almost exploitative feel to it. In fact, the whole time I was watching it, I was thinking "This would have made a great premise for one of the mid-90's Hong Kong Cat III films"- it just had that sort of feel to it. DUMPLINGS, in my opinion, had the most "squirm-inducing" scenes, although they were not extremely graphic and mostly implied, and were apparent due to the subject matter of the film. CUT had a good story and a decent amount of gore (though nothing "too" out-there...)and really just needs to be viewed to be "understood".
All the films in THREE...EXTREMES have some decent things going on, although as much as I like a lot of Miike's work, BOX just didn't do a whole lot for me - but DUMPLINGS and CUT were definitely worth the price of admission for these films. 8/10 overall - definitely recommended
BOX (Takashi Miike) - Kyoko is haunted by the accidental death of her sister. She has severe nightmares and has a hard time differentiating between her nightmares and reality. How much of what Kyoko envisions is dream, and how much is reality... 7 out of 10
DUMPLINGS (Fruit Chan) - centers around a woman who uses a sickening "special ingredient" for her dumplings, which causes age-reversing effects in those that eat them... 8.5 out of 10
CUT (Park Chan-Wook) - A film director who apparently lives the "ideal" life, is thrown into a hellish nightmare when he is confronted by one of his previous employees... 8.5 out of 10
I enjoyed THREE...EXTREMES for the most part. Each film had a unique style and vision, and all were good in their own way. I preferred BOX the least because it was the most slow and plodding, and it was the one I could make the least sense of. In fact all 3 films have strange, abstract endings that leave a lot open to individual interpretations. I have read many peoples ideas on the endings of each of these films, and many reviewers have some decent insights - but I still think it's up to the individual to take what they will from these films. Also, BOX has the "creepiest" atmosphere, but the least actual violence. DUMPLINGS had a very sickly humorous, almost exploitative feel to it. In fact, the whole time I was watching it, I was thinking "This would have made a great premise for one of the mid-90's Hong Kong Cat III films"- it just had that sort of feel to it. DUMPLINGS, in my opinion, had the most "squirm-inducing" scenes, although they were not extremely graphic and mostly implied, and were apparent due to the subject matter of the film. CUT had a good story and a decent amount of gore (though nothing "too" out-there...)and really just needs to be viewed to be "understood".
All the films in THREE...EXTREMES have some decent things going on, although as much as I like a lot of Miike's work, BOX just didn't do a whole lot for me - but DUMPLINGS and CUT were definitely worth the price of admission for these films. 8/10 overall - definitely recommended