Three…Extremes (2005)

Directed by Fruit Chan, Chan-wook Park, Takashi Miike. Starring Byung-hun Lee, Miriam Yeung, Kyōko Hasegawa, Bai Ling, Atsuro Watabe, Won-hee Im, Mai Suzuki, Yuu Suzuki, Hye-jung Kang, Pauline Lau, Tony Leung Ka-Fai, Jung-ah Yum.

Omnibus horror from East Asian directors (hailing from Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan); despite the “extremes” in the title, none of them are as boundary-pushing or unsettling as one might expect based on the reputations of each filmmaker, but they all have at least some manner of disturbing creepiness. Chan’s segment about dumplings that rejuvenate beauty and youth is a bit obvious (and suitably revolting in both concept and sound design), and Park’s tale of a director being tortured by one of his extras is a contrivance that could have used some tightening…and that’s not referring to the web-trap of piano wire. Though the first two are still good enough to recommend, it’s the third story that really works: a hauntingly surreal blur of past and present, nightmare and reality, with a wrenching revelation to cap it all off. Cold around the heart but exquisitely crafted by all three filmmakers, it won’t be for all tastes, but anyone with a stony fortitude and a yearning for something different than the pulpy Gothic ambience of the “classic” anthology chillers should find this to be a fascinating alternative. Chan’s Dumplings episode was later expanded into a full-length feature of the same name. Preceded by a similar triptych simply called Three, and followed by another one called Three Extremes II.

77/100