|
Three Asian directors made three short
films (one each) with stories based around three
characters. This is the idea behind "Three...
Extremes." The films come from Hong Kong, Japan
and South Korea. The directors are Fruit Chan,
whom I've never heard of, Chan-wook Park ("Oldboy"),
and Takashi Mike, who I have heard of but have
never seen any of his work.
It is easiest and perhaps best to discuss
the films as three separate entities as they
only have the aforementioned ideas in the previous
paragraph to connect them. First up is Fruit
Chan's "Dumplings," an unpleasant and disgusting
little film that went on way to long and bored
the shit out of me. Thankfully, the two later
films were far superior to this one. "Dumplings"
is without a doubt the stupidest short film
I've seen in a long time. It is beautiful to
look at and the actors in the piece are great
but Chan insists on milking this story for every
last gag factor and the entire mess just seems
seedy and obvious. The loud obnoxious college
kid sitting next to me guessed the big shocker
of the plot long before it was revealed in the
movie.
The end of "Dumplings" does transition
nicely into Chan-wook Parks' "Cut." The director,
whose "Oldboy" impressed me greatly when it
was screen in Austin earlier this year, also
impressed me greatly here. His film seems a
dream within a dream and involves a filmmaker
(the handsome Byung-hun Lee) who comes home
to find his wife, a pianist, ensnared in a odd
trap at her instrument with a madman in the
house threatening to cut off her fingers if
the director does not cooperate. The story here
is interesting and clever and to spend time
divulging more would be a disservice to the
film... or at least this segment of it. Suffice
it to say that Park is fast becoming one of
my favorite directors and I severely regret
missing his "Sympathy of Mr. Vengeance" when
it played here last month. With its themes of
art imitating life imitating a dream, "Cut"
is fascinating stuff.
And then there is Takashi Mike. Wow. What
a filmmaker! If his short here, "Box," is any
indication of what his features are like, then
I have to see more of his work. His films played
at a sort of "retrospective" earlier this year
at the Alamo Drafthouse and I just assumed that
they were probably violent and gory. Maybe they
are, but "Box" is not. This short has much more
in common with David Lynch than it does Rob
Zombie. Mike's film is elegant, slowly paced
(some may even say excruciatingly slow), gorgeous,
complex, intense, unusual and compelling. His
storytelling devices are artistic and the film
often cuts away for images that act as tiny
flashbacks with no sound. That isn't to say
the film is entirely chronological either as
Mike plays with time and setting as much as
he does with image and sound. His main character
here, Kyoko, is a author haunted by her childhood
and Mike exposes the story to us in a bold and
perplexing manner. This is fantastic filmmaking.
"Three... Extremes" is two-thirds a great
movie. Do worry if you're running late to the
theater though. Missing the first short here
is no great loss. But if you want to see two
of the most interesting and unique Asian directors
working in film today, Takashi Mike and Chan-wook
Park, this is a film you must see.
Notes:
In Cantonese, Japanese, Mandarin and Korean
with subtitles.
Also with Ling Bai, Tony Leung Ki Fat,
and Miriam Yeung Chi Wa.
There is a 90 minute version of "Dumplings"
somewhere. These films may be on DVD already
in some cases or in other parts of the world.
The film debuted last year in several countries
but was not screened in the U.S. until Sundance
of 2005. Lion's Gate is giving it a limited
release in the U.S. in October of 2005.
Viewed at the IMAX theater of the Bob Bullock
State History Museum at AFF in October of 2005.
Report Card
Script: F/ B+/ A+
Acting: C/ A-/ A+
Cinematography\Lighting: A/ A+/ A+
Special Effects\Make Up: B/ A+/ A+
Music: A-/ A/ A+
Final Grade: D+/ A-/ A+
|
