Three Asian directors, from Hong Kong, Korea and Japan, join forces to
create an omnibus horror film, Three...Extremes, a sequel of sorts to the 2002
Hong Kong/Korean/Thai production Three. In Fruit Chan's "Dumplings," shot by
Christopher Doyle, Mrs. Li (Miriam Yeung), a thirtysomething former actress with
a philandering husband (Tony Leung) goes to visit Aunt Mei (Bai Ling), who sells
the most expensive dumplings in Hong Kong. Mrs. Li knows about their
rejuvenating powers, and she also knows about their unpleasant main ingredient,
but after some initial nausea, she digs right in. In Oldboy writer/director Park
Chan-wook's "Cut," a successful filmmaker (Lee Byung-hun of Joint Security Area)
arrives home to find that a disgruntled extra (Lim Won-hee) has taken over his
home, and fastened his pianist wife (Kang Hye-jun of Oldboy) to the grand piano.
The madman threatens to cut off the wife's fingers, one by one, unless the
director strangles the helpless child he's tied to the couch. Takashi Miike
directs the last segment, "Box," about a young author and former circus
performer, Kyoko (Kyoko Hasegawa) seemingly haunted by the ghost of her twin
sister, who died a mysterious and horrible death while practicing their act.
Adding to Kyoko's trauma, her editor (Atsuro Watabe) is a dead ringer for her
old stepfather/ringmaster, who may have perished in the same "accident" that
took her sister's life. Three...Extremes was shown at Subway Cinema's New York
Asian Film Festival in 2005. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
