re:mote voices

Title: Dumplings [Gaau ji]
Cast: Ling Bai, Miriam Yeung Chin Wah, Tony Leung Ka Fai, Pauline Lau, Meme Tian, Miki Yeung
Director: Fruit Chan

Mrs Li is an aging actress. She used to be on a popular show and got married to the sponsor. But that’s the past, and her husband’s eye has gone a wandering. So when she hears about special dumplings that can restore her youth she must have them regardless of the cost. But it is clear from the start that the dumplings have a secret ingredient, and one that is particularly unpleasant. Aunt Mei assures her that the secret ingredient is key, but with the results not coming quickly enough Mrs Li demands that Mei gets more powerful materials. Leading to some dubious behaviour.

Dumplings was originally a short film, part of three films released under the international title Three Extremes. Three films directed by established Asian directors - Takashi Miike (Japan), Chan-wook Park (Korea) and Fruit Chan (China). Ironically Fruit Chan is probably the least known of the three directors, though this film Dumplings is the feature length version of his short. Not having seen the collection, I can’t comment on how Dumplings compares to the others. But given the “extremes” of Asian cinema and the other work by the other directors, Chan’s contribution is tame. Its more psychological and subtle than one might expect from a horror film. The themes are clearly about aging, with a dash of life and death (the classics) thrown in there for good measure. There are a couple of particularly unpleasant scenes, especially related to the secret ingredients as vivid components are chopped into bits for the cooking process. Its not high suspense, the secret ingredients are fairly obvious from the start, but it’s the whole feel of the film that is interesting.

Dumplings is a curious film. Apparently Fruit Chan has done a couple of films that verge on being horror, if aren’t horror. But certainly the two films that I have seen by Chan were quite removed from Dumplings. Not least because it has the sought after Christopher Doyle as cinematographer. The first film I saw by Chan was a film called Made In Hong Kong, which was a lot more DIY – Chan scavenging for film stock while working as assistant on other films, giving the completed film a particularly raw feel. That and the later film Durian Durian were about triads, the poor in sprawling tower blocks and immigrants – the violence and beauty of life in Hong Kong. So a film as professionally made and with affluent characters is something different. On the other hand, the flats where Aunt Mei lives are just as sprawling and monolithic as those in Made In Hong Kong, and of course Doyle is a master of his art and brings scenes like that to striking life.

Of course it’s frustrating that Chan’s films are pretty much impossible to find with English subtitles. So one has to keep an eye out for the occasional cinema release on the art house circuit. Ironically because this is an “extreme” film it was distributed by Tartan, who pick up all the “Asia Extreme” films for the UK, Dumplings will likely be available on DVD before the end of the year. While the rest of his more interesting work remains elusive.