Shevonne Polastre
Washington, D.C.
It Wasn't As Extreme as the Title — 48 weeks ago
Finished watching the 3 Extremes that are three short stories from Asian horror masters Fruit Chen, Takashi Miike, and Chan-Wook Park.
Fruit Chen directed the first segment called “Dumplings.” I found out later that this was created into a full-length film. It’s about an aging starlet who goes to a woman who is rumored to help recover youth using mysterious dumplings. This was my favorite one and probably why it was the first one. It had an eeriness about it that the other two failed to match. The movie had some truth to it on the price that women will pay to retain their youth. It’s a frightening concept because they will try and do anything, even if it’s dangerous. The acting and plot were great, and I wish that I would have seen the full-length feature.
Chan-Wook Park, who directed the Vengeance trilogy, directed “Cut.” It’s about a director, who is a good, right man, whose wife and him are taken by a crazy movie extra. I found this story boring, and I had to fast forward. It was suppose to be more of a psychological horror, but it failed to deliver. The only person who shined was Park. It’s like the character says in the beginning, “You don’t want to be in a movie where the director is the star.” I felt that this was probably a little bit of foreshadowing.
Takashi Miike, who also directed “Ichi the Killer” and “One Missed Call,” created the last one called “Box.” It’s about a girl who has a recurring dream of being buried in a box. I understand Miike is known for his bizzare storylines, but this one failed short. It was interesting how it delved into dreams, but I still didn’t care for it. I’m not much of a fan of Miike so it might be why.
Overall, i would recommend people to watch this who love Asian cinema and want to see the different style of a Hong Kong director, Japanese, director, and Korean director.
