Dumplings (2004)

Continuing with the horror genre, I eventually tracked down this controversial darkly-themed film directed by Fruit Chan and penned by Pik-Wah Lee. It's not really a horror, as such, more like a horrific idea, but very well executed. In more ways than one! Spoilers from the outset here, so look away if you don't want them as it's hard to appraise what's going on here without.

We have a woman living in Hong Kong who runs a 'dumpling shop' from her apartment. She is known as Aunt Mai and from the film's outset the audience is encouraged to try and guess what the secret ingredient in her dumplings is, which brings many people, including the rich and famous in one case, to her door to test the claims of whatever it is, bringing enhanced beauty, longer life, good looks and rejuvenation to their human bodies.

Aunt Mai used to be a gynaecologist when she lived in China, which might start to give you some hints, as this film is, partially, maybe, having a poke at the one-child-per-family policy in China in the day. This helps to line up the background for the teased truth/reveal of the magic ingredient! The truth doesn't actually take long to creep out as an ex-actress lines Aunt Mai up to help her remain attractive to her older businessman husband, who has lost interest in her and is instead, bangin' "twenty year old chicks" (their words, not mine)!

So yes, the truth is that she's scooping up unborn babies from the local hospital, following abortions usually, with the 'more potent' ingredient coming the later on the pregnancy has been. In one case, in the plotline here, the most potent of all was a 5 month in foetus which was also a result of incestuous activity! You can see that this gets grimmer and grimmer as we go along, but thematically remains very interesting with the 90 minute runtime flying.

The two leads are Bai Ling (Aunt Mai) and Miriam Chin-Wah Yeung (Mrs Li, the wealthy 'client') and they both hold the film together beautifully by their performances and command of the screen and camera. There's humour along the way too, detracting from the bizarre subject matter and grizzly idea - so it's not all dark and horrific!

The photography and sound should be noted as there are many beautifully shot scenes, close-ups and focus work along with great, comic, sound effects as the dumplings are eaten - especially in one scene when there's much crunching on what's inside!

Laying aside the theme, I guess that it's a film about people's vanity and desire not to age at any cost, as-in Dorian Gray, people's values attached to their partners in life, selfishness, marriage and meanderings, what wealth can bring people, maybe(!) and the depiction in society of the importance of female beauty driven and controlled by men. Some dubious attributes maybe, depending on your view.

It's a great watch though, very colourfully shot, very nicely acted by (particularly) the two leads with a dialogue and script that seem to work nicely. It will be remembered for the grizzly topic of course, but then it's a horror film. Or at least a horrific film. Watch open-eyed, enjoy some of the special effects, nasty scenes with blood, guts and gore, but more importantly admire the filmmaking, acting and production. That is, if you can get hold of it. The DVD is available, though not really from mainstream outlets - look in resellers/used. And it is, of course, not in English so it's subtitles for Brits! Really enjoyed it.