Three... Extremes
by Rene A. Moncivais 12/30/05
It's been a while since I have done a review but here we go.
The film is Three Extremes and it is somewhat of a horror film but more along the lines of extreme situations. It is broken up into 3 segments the first being Box by weirdo director Takashi Miike.
First off Box is Miike's most subdued effort yet. There is no extreme violence or sex in this one unlike his other films. Box is the worst out of the 3 short films but it is still good. It gets you with it's slow burn pace. I was wondering what was going on with the main characters from the beginning of the film. Essentially it is about a young woman who is a fictional writer. She keeps having the same dream every night and wakes up in the same place of the dream every night.
This short has the best cinematography that I have seen in a Miike film. It has some really disturbing imagery as well. It is a good little short film with just a hint of Miike's madness at the end overall I would say it was a good little short film.
Next up is Fruit Chan's
Dumplings. This crazy little short film is about a woman obsessed with eternal
beauty. She goes to a special Dumpling Maker who uses a secret ingredient
for the eternal beauty. I will not give away the secret ingredient as it is
pretty shocking, I'll just say when I saw it, it made my stomach churn. This
short
film is directed well by Fruit Chan. This is the first thing I have actually
seen by him but he has a good eye and the sounds that were made when the main
character eats the dumplings is pretty damn gross. It was really good though
and it made me feel nauseous, pretty much what they were going for I believe.
Overall a creepy little film with a great sound design, I will be looking
for more stuff by Fruit Chan in the future.
Last and the best of
the 3 is Cut By Park Chanwoo. This little film is about a film director that
is kidnapped and has to choose between killing his wife or killing a 12 year
old kid. This is almost more of Chanwoo's revenge stuff. After watching Oldboy
and Sympathy for Mr.Veangence I could not wait for this. Chanwoo delivers
with some
brutal violence and some pretty comical moments. This film has some really
great cinematography, just like Chanwoo's other films. Chanwoo is turning
into one of my favorite directors. Really good stuff that is pretty twisted.
It's hard to write a review for this film as it is broken into these 3 parts. I will just say that I thoroughly enjoyed this film. Miike's Box was a subdued little film while Fruit Chan's Dumplings was really sick and twisted. Park Chanwoo's Cut is an amazing little film that I didn't want to end. I would highly recommend this flick to any Asian horror fan.
