20131017: Horror Review--Dumplings

Dumplings (Gaau Ji)

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. Hong Kong live action feature length film, 2004, NR, 90 minutes, horror.  Spoken language is Cantonese; English subtitles.
2. IMDB: 6.8/10.0 from 5,209 users. Aspect 1.85.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No reviews yet,' and 70% liked it from 5,878 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.4/5.0 from 73,115 user ratings.
5. Directed by: Fruit Chan.
6. Starring: Bai Ling as Mei (the cook), Tony Leung Ka Fai as Li Sije, Pauline Lau as Masseuse (Li's maid), Meme Tian as Connie, Miriam Yeung Chin Wah as Mrs. Li.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Aunt Mei cooks special dumplings that taste bad, but supposedly help women keep their health and good looks.  Mrs. Li is a former TV star who has more or less aged out of stardom.  She tries Aunt Mei's dumplings, and spits out the first one.  Mei talks her into resuming, after burying the rejected dumpling in the pot of one of her plants.


2. Mr. Li, a late midde-aged man, is having an affair with the masseuse, who looks to be early twenties in age.  Mrs. Li is discouraged by his excuses to leave town, but does not scratch very deep about it.


3. As the film continues, it becomes clear what the 'secret ingredient' is.  Aunt Mei used to be a surgeon in China.  In obstetrics.  In Hong Kong, abortion is against the law, and Aunt Mei has to keep a low profile.


4. Mrs. Li decides to visit her husband at his hotel near his work...only to find he's not alone.  Oh, goodness.  She visits their house, which is being renovated.  She discovers her husband's egg fetish.  He eats the eggs when the young bird is fairly close to coming out.


5. When Mrs. Li finds out what the extra strong secret ingredient is (by direct sight), she freaks out.  Then she returns.  Aunt Mei talks about how the much better the first born is, and how important it is to do the abortion without the usual drugs, which would damage the nervous system of the diner.


6. Does it work?  For a while her husband is very interested in her physically.  Does it have side effects?  Yes, she gets skin rashes that give her a decidedly fishy smell.  


7. While talking to Aunt Mei, Mr. Li overhears everything on another phone extension.  He seeks out Aunt Mei and starts taking the 'cure' himself.  It would seem that is what his eating bird embryos was about, so this is probably a natural extension for him.


8. Aunt Mei convinces him that he could do quite well with the dumplings.  She's 64, and he finds her quite desirable.


9. The extra strong dumplings continue to have bad effects on Mrs. Li, who consults a physician.  He tells her she's allergic to something in the hotel she's staying at, recommends she return home, and prescribes some medicine for her.


10. Mrs. Li counter-attacks by directing the police to the home of the 15 year old, whose fetus she ate, and to Aunt Mei's apartments.  Her husband returns to her, and she convinces (via currency) the masseuse to have her husband's baby aborted.


11. Yikes.  Mrs. Li listened to Aunt Mei's recipe preparation talks.


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: The desire for youth meets cannibalism in Hong Kong.
2. Five stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 9/10 On streaming Netflix, at least, the aspect looks more like 1.33 than 1.85.  Go figure. Still, the visuals look good for the most part, with framing, lighting, and focus all fine.


2. Sound: 8/10 Good, but I've heard better.


3. Acting: 9/10 Quite nice by the main players.


4. Screenplay: 10/10 Quite a study in human degradation made possible by abundant money.