So, Three Extremes (if you think I’m typing that ellipses every time, you’ve got another think coming) is a weird movie. It’s decided stranger than Three, the movie it’s kind of a sequel too. That movie, while variable in quality, featured three stories that were fairly similar in tone and even subject matter. The three shorts collected here are . . . just wildly different and, as strange as they each are in and of themselves, they’re even weirder put together in one omnibus.
In the first one, Dumplings, director Fruit Chan follows an actress approaching middle age who is desperate to maintain her good looks and sex appeal. This is my least favorite of the three, though it has its pleasures. The actress runs afoul of Bai Ling, who is absolutely wonderful, as a cranky back-alley saleswoman who makes dumplings that will stave off the effects of aging, but best to play dumb about what exactly the secret ingredient is. This one is, for my money, just a little too shocking for the sake of being shocking, if you know what I mean. The film is forever just watching the actress sucking down dumplings in slow motion while chewing and smacking sounds blare over the speakers. This movie could pass for ASMR if, again, you DON’T ASK WHAT’S IN THE DUMPLINGS. It feels like it’s breaking taboos without really having anything to say, breaking them just to break them. Chan expanded this short into a feature length film and, um, yes, I’ll have more to say about that version of the story in another review.
The second story, Cut, is from Korean auteur Chan-wook Park, responsible for a whole host of absolutely brilliant movies, as dissimilar as Oldboy and The Handmaiden. He’s one of my favorite filmmakers honestly, but I’m not sure what to make of this. It’s the story of a movie director who is kidnapped by a psychotic extra who engages in a series of weird games with the director and his wife. It’s honestly more like a joke than a story, if you ask me, but Park uses the camera like a man possessed and the film is absolutely dazzling visually. It’s over the top and gratuitious in the extreme (the very first shot of the film does a dolly back that appears to go through the handle of a carafe of coffee; why? Oh, no reason), but it’s a trip of a movie. Im Won-hee gives a bravura performance as the sadistic kidnapper; I’m damned if I can tell if he’s any good, but he’s having a blast. Everyone, I think, is having a blast making this one from Park on down and the mean-spirited fun is infectious. This isn’t one of Park’s masterworks or anything, but it’s an excuse for him to just indulge as his wackiest tendencies as a visual stylist and that’s not a bad thing.
The final film is by Takashi Miike, agent provocateur of Asian cinema, and it’s the most artistic of the bunch. Kyoko Hasegawa is wonderful as a young writer haunted by a recurring nightmare of being buried alive; as we follow her through her life, we find ourselves lost in memories of the horrible trauma that scarred her as a young child. Atsuro Watabe is equally great in a dual role as her shy literary agent and a nightmarish circus performer from her past. Miike just absolutely kills the atmosphere here; this is a film that is profoundly quiet and slow. It creates an atmosphere of dread and surreality. Moment to moment, the viewer is unsure of whether we’re in a dream or reality, in the present or a memory; most often we’re in some combination of two or even three of them. This is just a profoundly beautiful and occasionally really terrifying film. I’m honestly left pretty baffled by the final twist; I just don’t know why anyone thought that was a good idea. But the bulk of this one is just masterful, a cinematic auteur in complete control of his craft.
So, what the hell? I mean, what does this all add up to? I don’t really know. This isn’t exactly greater than the sum of its parts, but the parts are all compelling in different ways and I respect the obvious commitment by the three filmmakers to just get a little crazy and experimental. This movie’s a wild experience. It’s very flawed, in my opinion, and it’s kind of impossible to get a fix on what exactly the movie is up to or even wants to be up to, but it’s a fun experience and a unique film, even among omnibus films, because of the sheer license given to the directors. I feel like I’ve rambled for several paragraphs and, ultimately, I think I just have to go back to the very first thing I said: this thing is WEIRD. 3 ½ stars.
tl;dr – bizarre horror omnibus is wacky, wild & off-kilter, featuring great direction and performances in every segment; isn’t more than the sum of its parts, but with parts like these . . . 3 ½ stars.