Watched Dumplings (2004) the other night. A film about the real way to restore your youth and beauty. Turns out Countess Bathory was wrong. Mrs Li is an ageing former actress and model mournful for the passage of time, who comes to Auntie Mei, former doctor turned ace cook, whose special dumplings are expensive but noted for their efficacy. The cost isn't just money though, things get dark...

Dumplings is a feature length development of a short in the anthology film Three Extremes, which I've not seen. I did however know the secret of the dumplings beforehand, and was wary that the whole film was going to be a futile mystery. Fortunately it lets on almost from the start, whats important is not the shock but what's behind. The film has a potent take on the beauty industry, the way it feeds on and fuels deceit and delusion, insecurity and greed, drives disconnection and decay, in short is parasitic. The one child policy comes into it too, and the cruelty of folk medicine, and the people involved don't get off either, never really unwilling, with basic founding failings of love and fidelity. The style is slick, spare and coolly alluring, it doesn't shirk cringe making unpleasantness but only shows enough to have essential impact, not to turn into some schlocky gross out. There's morbid humour and erotic charge, drama, tension and sheer horror, deftly, even playfully handled. Some sense of an artist really enjoying their work. I'm not aware of anything else from director Fruit Chan but I'm rather interested now.

Miriam Yeung as Mrs Li and Bai Ling as Auntie Mei are excellent, giving not just credibility to proceedings but a real humanity and vulnerability. There's always a danger with this kind of film that it can feel callow, too cynical, too intellectualised, but they bring it back. The rest of the cast of the cast are solid too, including Tony Ka Fai Leung as the adulterous Mr Li.

This all would be quite excellent, but actually it doesn't entirely come off. Basically, the secret of the dumplings is absurdly horrible, to a degree usually seen in either juvenile schlock or the darkest of grotesque satire. Dumplings is largely serious, but a little difficult to take seriously because one can never quite believe it. Also, while the plot does develop, it doesn't do quite enough and the film never quite builds up a full head of steam. The tension doesn't really go anywhere, and the ending is a bit limp. So while there's much to enjoy, it doesn't totally satisfy.

Still recommended though.

Dumplings is largely serious, but a little difficult to take seriously because one can never quite believe it.

I did not have this problem with the movie. I found it quite believable, especially in a country with questionable ethics and a society with an obession with beauty.

That's a fair point, and I'm sure what the film was going for. I could have believed people ok, along unscrupulous organ dealing lines, maybe aborted fetuses later on. But going from zero to fetus straight up didn't quite do it for me. More exploration of Auntie Mei's and Mrs Li's pasts and the whole one child thing might have helped. Might have made the relative lack of visceral disgust more understandable/convincing to me.

Watched Korean zombie opus Train to Busan (2016) lately. Now, I'm not too keen on the fast variety of zombie, and the genre as a whole has somewhat lost its hold on me these past few years. Too many of the same old stories, the same social commentary, same throat ripping, gut munching, gore gag zombie slaying. I don't usually get too excited for a new zombie movie, but I do love a good train movie. The Lady Vanishes, The Bullet Train, Runaway Train, Death Train (the one where the train itself gets demoniacally possessed), all awesome. So the prospect of Train to Busan got my zombie movie guard down. As it turns out, for the best.

The story and characters aren't too new. Seok-woo (Gong Yoo) is our flawed hero making good in adversity, a hard working fund manager and loving but inattentive father, going through a divorce, who takes his daughter Soo-an (Kim Su-an) on a train journey to see her mother. They and other passengers settle down, but then a rather sick young woman boards and bites an attendant. And things get interesting... Fortunately there's an ally in Sang-hwa (Ma Dong-seok) an antagonistic but good hearted working man who disdains Seok-woo's financier class but is determined to protect his pregnant wife. The other passengers are various shades of helpful to less so to downright villainous, and they all fight for survival and passage to safe territory.

So it's familiar, and you can guess the way a lot of it goes down. The execution is fresh though. For a start, the zombies. A leaping, rolling, tumbling horde with a reckless disregard for pain or safety, they bring both thrills and a feeling of actual horror usually lacking in the post 28 Days Later variety. No one wants to be trampled, or forced up against a window by a hundred other bodies until they burst through. Also, there's a very pleasing lack of humour or "coolness". A good deal of action and suspense sequences, but all kept tight and to the point, no superfluous flourishes. And while the zombie bashing is satisfying, it sticks to necessity, no splatter. Just tight train spaces, agile camera and efficient choreography, with a dash of good imagination. The only really noticeable trick is in some of the sequences outside of the train. Minimal mayhem, focus on clean desertion and straight lines, stillness and serenity to be sharply shattered. It's a nice change from the usual grand vistas of destruction, and makes sense in context. The effect overall is sincere, serious excitement not too often found in the genre. The film mounts in drama, and its punches land, it avoids the cheesiness, cheapness or tiredness I often find. My pulse pounded and my heart leaped to my throat at all the right times. The actors are a big part of this of course, committed and convincing in the action but with the fundamental skills to draw out emotion without bathos when needed. Helps that outside of the mains the characterisations are light, wry and likeable on the whole, unshowy and reasonably realistic.

There's really very little I can say against this. An awkward moment or two and perhaps it could have been a little gorier or more surprising. I might have gone for a slightly different ending too. But still, all in all, highly recommended.

I might have gone for a slightly different ending too.

I know what you mean.. I'd have had the daughter and pregnant woman get shot by mistake, a la Night of the Living Dead, for a more bleaker ending..

Strangely enough, I might have prefered a happier ending than the one that we got. Except that the more I think about it, perhaps I wouldn't. I just felt a little just after watching it, that being quite a fun, action based affair that it could have gone against the standard bleakness.

The Wailing and Train to Busan are excellent. Dumplings is good too.

Nice write-ups! I basically agree with your assessments. Dumplings is the least impressive of the bunch, but still good. The Wailing has a character and thematic depth to it that makes the ending very impactful. Train To Busan is just damn fun to watch.

Thanks man! I can see some good rewatches of The Wailing down the line, real one to get the teeth in to. What did you make of Seoul Station? I really liked it myself, but lacked the energy to write a review. Was surprised by how dark it got, but appreciated it, and thought it had some great suspense.

Planning to revisit The Wailing because the first time around i was extremely tired and on the verge of sleeping so i didn't do it justice, but the impression was overwhelmingly positive. Dumplings i watched recently in the October challenge, much prefer the shorter version, mostly indifferent. Train to Busan haven't watched yet.