Btexxamar
I like Black Panther, but I didn't like this movie.
Borgarkeri
A bit overrated, but still an amazing film
Ariella Broughton
It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.
Leofwine_draca
Despite not containing a single second of on-screen violence, DUMPLINGS is one of the sickest movies I've ever seen. I feel nauseous just thinking about it and ever watching it again is out of the question. Whether you view it as a modern-day parable of the age-old quest for eternal youth, as a gross-out comedy, a satire of anti-ageing products, or as a bleak horror film about cannibalism in China, you're guaranteed to have a reaction to what has to be one of the bravest films I can recall watching.It's a well-made movie. Fruit Chan is proficient at the technical aspects and he also elicits a couple of fine performances from his two leading ladies. Bai Ling dominates proceedings with her ultra-sensual turn as Aunt Mei, but the story really belongs to Miriam Yeung, whose quest for youth and jealousy of her husband's infidelity leads her to some very dark places. The film was originally conceived as part of a trilogy of short films under the THREE EXTREMES banner and later expanded to full length, and it does have the feel of a short – this is a mood piece rather than a focused narrative, and there's little in the way of action.Still – it's no secret that the story is about dumplings that contain human foetuses that help restore youth. The whole idea is completely disgusting and watching people eating said dumplings is utterly repulsive. There are graphic abortions here too, along with some horrible egg things that people enjoy eating, so I'd advise viewers to eat NOTHING before watching as you're liable to bring up your lunch with this one. DUMPLINGS is a disturbing little movie that's all too effective.
suite92
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.Mr. Li, a late middle-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.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.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.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.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. 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.Aunt Mei convinces him that he could do quite well with the dumplings. She's 64, and he finds her quite desirable.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.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.Yikes. Mrs. Li listened to Aunt Mei's recipe preparation talks.------Scores------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.Sound: 8/10 Good, but I've heard better.Acting: 9/10 Quite nice by the main players.Screenplay: 10/10 Quite a study in human degradation made possible by abundant money.
makiprettywoman3
Dumplings deals with some serious issues. You have Bai Ling. Bai Ling plays Mei a famous cook known for her home made rejuvenation dumplings. There is a secret ingredient in these dumplings. You are not told this woman was a former gynecologist and person who used to perform abortions. You won't know much about Mei exactly until a little later in the movie.You have a former TV Star Mrs. Li who visits Mei because she think those dumplings can help recover her youth and become attractive again to her husband. At what costs is it worth looking young? There also ends up being problems with husband such as having sex with other woman than his wife.Some of the content in this movie is stuff you may morally object to. This movie deals with a lot of different moral issues tied to love, beauty and abortion. Just having something like abortion in a movie would probably turn away any American from wanting to watch a movie like this. They ended up taking a short story and made into a 90 minute movie. It does end up being a little bit slow at times. This is an interesting movie. This is worth seeing at least once.
Michael_Elliott
Dumplings (2004) **** (out of 4) Feature length version of the short that appeared in Three...Extremes. It's rather interesting how different these two versions are and what the director sets out to do in both of them. In Three...Extremes it's clear that the director was going for shock and horror value and he captured that like no other film I can remember. The big "secret" had me near throwing up and that same element is here in this feature version but there's some added twists in the extra 45-minutes worth of screen time. The biggest storyline added to this version is the husband who we didn't see too much of in the short. He plays a much bigger role here as we see him in a couple different affairs and this here sets up why the woman would keep eating the dumplings even after learning what they are. A couple sex scenes are also added but an even bigger addition is the director's statement about women and age. How "women are thrown out" as they get older is an interesting subplot as is the Chinese legend behind what is actually eaten in the film.
