Three... Extremes

[pete]

dude this looks pretty twisted, it's supposedly by chan woo park who did Oldboy, according to ain't it cool.  but IMDB didn't say nothing.



it makes SAW look like Phone Booth.

[classical gas]

that trailer made absolutely no sense ...can't wait to see it....

[Sleuth]

I prefer my films to have symbolism.

[Just Withnail]

So the puppet is playing piano?

[Weak2ndAct]

Three: Extremes is one of those typical doomed-for-failure-anthology flicks.  Three of Asia's craziest directors (China's Fruit Chan, Japan's Takashi Miike, and Korea's Chan Wook Park) all contributed 40 minute segments to this horror triptych.  None of the stories are connected, save for the fact that they're all fucked up.

BOX, by Miike: This story is Lynch-ian in it's dreamlike structure, and it carries a fable-esque story: a woman is haunted by her childhood, where she performed cirque-de-solei contorsionist acts with her twin sister.  The twin is the favroite of their parent/guardian, and jealousy leads to tragedy.  The ending's a big 'wtf?' and demands more viewings.  It's not a typical Miike shocker, but seriously engrossing and well-made.

DUMPLINGS, by Fruit Chan: Easily the best of the series, which shocked me considering it was the one I had no expectations for.  Miriam Leung plays a former actress who longs for her youthful beauty, so she visits a woman named Aunt Mei (Bai Ling, who is f'in hot) who claims to hold the secret of eternal youth in her 'special dumplings.'  I dare not reveal the ingredient.  The ending of this is so fucking nuts you won't believe it.  Also has top-notch lensing by Chris Doyle too.  I also snagged the feature-length version of this story (the only one to get this treatment), I'm curious to see how this will work.

CUT, by Chan Wook Park: The one I was most excited for, yet most disappointed by-- but still quite enjoybale, don't get me wrong.  Old Boy made me feel like I was watching the next Fincher, and this film opens up with a Panic Room-esque tracking shot that goes through the film plane, walls, monitors, as we meet our lead, a director making a vampire movie.  The director comes home, only to be kidnapped and taken back to the set.  The kidnapper (someone from the past with some unpleasant motives) has also nabbed the director's wife, who is tied to a piano, a la marionette.  And then her fingers start getting cut off one by one.  The director is given a choice: kill a little girl who is bound and gagged on the other side of the room, or watch your wife suffer.  While nowhere as near as satisfying as Park's earlier efforts, there are some pleasures to be had (black humor anyone?) and a couple surprises at the end.

Overall, I dug this flick, it's worth seeking out.  If you're multi-region, you can pick this bad boy up for 12 bucks-- and it's a 2 disc'er to boot.

[modage]

i want to see this.  someone please let me know if it gets a region 1 release.

[Weak2ndAct]

As far as I know, Lion's Gate has the rights, and prospects are pointing straight-to-video (and considering some of the things that happen in this flick, there's no way they could release this and get an R rating).

[pete]

I just found out that Christopher Doyle is the DP for this one too!

[Gamblour.]

Holy shit, that trailer was hilarious. It's so fucking melodramatic and then I love that shot of the guy taking a bite of an orange, I think it was.

[pete]

it is part comedy I guess.  It's directed by three different directors from Japan, Korea, and China.
this is from the Asian Cinema Drifter:

A higher profile sequel to the pan-Asia 2002 showcasing Three, Three Extremes attaches big name directors Takashi Miike, Fruit Chan and Park Chan-wook to the lot, for a descent into the madness of humanity, the perversion of the psyche and the evil of our species. While Miike's and Park's fourty minute shorts were made for this, the addition of Fruit Chan's Dumplings segment, (which we can only assume was meant to be a full length feature and re-edited because of its thematic similarities), helps confirm a coherent message that gives a reason for the three films to be grouped like this. With surreal, reality bending psychological horror, the three shorts take creatively haunting scenarios to illustrate the evil of humanity, and the lengths of harm we do to each other. It's like that fact you hear attributed to humanity, true or not, that we're the only species to kill each other for non practical purposes. With a solid pacing and innovative cinematic experience, despite being hit or miss at times, Three Extremes proves itself worthy of reenergizing this Asian horror compilation that will hopefully be continued in the coming years.

Takashi Miike's Box kicks off Three Extremes as a contemplative drama at first and leads into flashes of thematic horror built on ghosts, alterations of dreams and reality, and nightmarish memories. Box simply floats around, revolving around an outline regarding a woman, Kyoko, whom now publishes novels and is haunted by visions from the past reminding her of her responsibility in the horrible death of her twin sister. Crazy abstract Miike visuals occur combined with an intense albeit inexplicit sexual energy pumped into the weak narrative for a surreal experience. In terms of pacing for the entire compilation, Box is the perfect start as a slow hint at whats to come, and as the weakest of the lot, it just assists in a gradual build-up with Dumplings and Cut.

Box feels like a tame and restrained Takashi Miike with glimpses at horror but nothing truly effective. It's not that a restrained Miike is bad, but when you realize how little the story has moved, how the atmospheric pressure isn't working, and the flashbacks/dreams are more annoying than emotional, you'd just rather move on to Fruit Chan's work. When you strip Box down, it's nothing more than sibling rivalry, pedophilic shockers, Lynchian symbolism and reality manipulation. It feels derivative at most times and if it weren't for a certain scene at the end, I'd have had to regard this as an average piece. It's a decent interlude, but with Takashi Miike's name attached, higher hopes weren't met.

Dumplings comes next, shortened with the same ideas, but a different ending that can make it an interesting watch. It's difficult to say whether you need to watch the extended version, but it of course should be recommended if this shortened one left you hungry for more.

On to Park Chan-wook's eagerly anticipated Cut, which turns out to be the perfect finale to the rising insanity provided by the last two. Park simply goes all out, with a wild ride that extends a completely different horrific mood from the previous two and an original premise from almost any angle you see it.

Lee Byung-hun plays a famous director well-liked for being a Mr. Nice Guy to most everyone on the set. One night, after a shoot, he comes home to be knocked out and reawakened to find a stranger in his house. The stranger has tied him down, and in an elaborate maze of strings and superglue, tied his pianist wife down with her fingers glued to the keys. He then unveils a small girl, also tied up, and threatens the director saying he will cut off a finger of his wife every five minutes, unless the director strangles the girl with his bare hands.

With a similar style to Old Boy, using a racy, edgy mood to convey a deep and serious story, Park creates a wonderful, (if you would like to call it that...) jam for the hero to deal with and a painstaking decision to be made. On the surface, it's akin to that thought Battle Royale can give you, about killing your best friend to survive. Cut presents a question every viewer can ask themselves. Would you kill an innocent child to save someone you love? It's a strong idea, especially for the limited running time, taking place almost entirely on movie set resembling the director's swank house. The cleverness goes deeper than that, as the stranger inflicting the punishment is doing so for seemingly upside down reasons. He's tormenting the director because the director is a kind person. No evils fueling the anger, the stranger simply hates him because he is rich, talented and on top of that a good person. An unbeatable combination for lowlifes like him. And so he begins a test that dives into the insanity of the mind, evocative of the horror in the last two, but without asking us to dig deeper until the very end, and just keeping us on the edge of our seats for the full ride. The three actors here both provide perfect performances especially with Lim Won-hie as the stranger, however illogical, immoral and crazy he is, still comes across as lovable in between cutting off fingers and dancing to catchy cabaret tunes. Kang Hye-jeong, last used in Old Boy as Mido, is painful to watch with drenched make-up and a convincing fear in her spot. Lee Byung-hun turns out fine as well, with several layers of evasive techniques and emotions at his disposal and the ability to emote them giving us an air of uncertainty in his intentions. As an entire package, with Box, Three Extremes can be looked at as a mixed bag, but just for the pure energy and dark humor of Cut, the whole thing can be recommended without a doubt.

[Weak2ndAct]

Gah!  I didn't know there was a 3 Monster thread, I searched for three extremes and didn't find anything, so I made another thread.  So anyway, I saw it:

Three: Extremes is one of those typical doomed-for-failure-anthology flicks.  Three of Asia's craziest directors (China's Fruit Chan, Japan's Takashi Miike, and Korea's Chan Wook Park) all contributed 40 minute segments to this horror triptych.  None of the stories are connected, save for the fact that they're all fucked up.

BOX, by Miike: This story is Lynch-ian in it's dreamlike structure, and it carries a fable-esque story: a woman is haunted by her childhood, where she performed cirque-de-solei contorsionist acts with her twin sister.  The twin is the favroite of their parent/guardian, and jealousy leads to tragedy.  The ending's a big 'wtf?' and demands more viewings.  It's not a typical Miike shocker, but seriously engrossing and well-made.

DUMPLINGS, by Fruit Chan: Easily the best of the series, which shocked me considering it was the one I had no expectations for.  Miriam Leung plays a former actress who longs for her youthful beauty, so she visits a woman named Aunt Mei (Bai Ling, who is f'in hot) who claims to hold the secret of eternal youth in her 'special dumplings.'  I dare not reveal the ingredient.  The ending of this is so fucking nuts you won't believe it.  Also has top-notch lensing by Chris Doyle too.  I also snagged the feature-length version of this story (the only one to get this treatment), I'm curious to see how this will work.

CUT, by Chan Wook Park: The one I was most excited for, yet most disappointed by-- but still quite enjoybale, don't get me wrong.  Old Boy made me feel like I was watching the next Fincher, and this film opens up with a Panic Room-esque tracking shot that goes through the film plane, walls, monitors, as we meet our lead, a director making a vampire movie.  The director comes home, only to be kidnapped and taken back to the set.  The kidnapper (someone from the past with some unpleasant motives) has also nabbed the director's wife, who is tied to a piano, a la marionette.  And then her fingers start getting cut off one by one.  The director is given a choice: kill a little girl who is bound and gagged on the other side of the room, or watch your wife suffer.  While nowhere as near as satisfying as Park's earlier efforts, there are some pleasures to be had (black humor anyone?) and a couple surprises at the end.

Overall, I dug this flick, it's worth seeking out.  If you're multi-region, you can pick this bad boy up for 12 bucks-- and it's a 2 disc'er to boot.

I've watched this again, and 'Cut' played much better for me the 2nd time-- perhaps I was just a little too over-excited and my expectations were through the roof.

[evaderhead]

in Cut, the director intentionally emphasized the illusory layout of the scene, which probobly meant that this was all hapenning inside our frail inner consciousness?

[pete]

in Cut, the director intentionally emphasized the illusory layout of the scene, which probobly meant that this was all hapenning inside our frail inner consciousness?

this is why nobody likes you.

[evaderhead]

thanks for the tip!

[Ghostboy]

I watched this this evening. Of the three, I liked Miike's the best. It was haunting and rather beautiful...and the way he keeps the horror so subtle was mesmerizing. The scene with the girl in the closet is a work of art all by itself. It'll probably disappoint those looking for more general horror, but I think it's the finest piece of the trilogy and it's also now one of my favorite Miike films.

Dumplings was hilarious. I don't think I've been shocked by a movie in a long time, but this did the trick. There's one shot that...well, if you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about: it's the one that literally makes you gasp. I'd like to see the longer version, though; the second half was pretty choppy, and felt like there were scenes missing.

And as for Cut -- I hated it. I found it stupid and obvious and rather boring. After my mixed reaction to Oldboy, I now can officially say I'm not a fan of Park.

I saw one installment from the previous Three -- the one directed by Peter Chan, called Going Home. It was really good (and also had Chris Doyle as the DP).