kstadpole19 Being a fan of Asian horror movies, especially knowing that unlike the ones we have here in America they usually highlight symbolic meaning and draw horror from what lies underneath the story they've woven, I tend not to judge on the ostensible plot of these types of movies and focus more on their message.For this movie that was impossible. I understand perfectly the message that the movie is trying to convey about the dangers of abortions and the extent of immorality that people will be driven to by vanity. However, even when I got past that I really couldn't consider this movie's plot anything more than lacking, at best, and more or less absent at worst.The plot is supposed to be exactly what you can read in most descriptions: a woman, trying to regain her youth and cheating husband, consults a witch doctor and begins eating miracle dumplings with a horrifying special ingredient. And, on the most basic level, that was what it was about. But beyond that it was a mess.Sometimes the issues seemed like they were close to being resolved, but then the movie either introduced something completely different or just ignored the possible resolution and moved on to something completely different. Such as the ending. Right after a dramatic shift in circumstances that leaves the viewer with very powerful conflicting emotions, the movie completely ignores that new issue and instead choose to settle for old characters with new issues and an ending that really didn't resolve anything.What really saved this movie for me was the amazing acting and cinematography. Sometimes the actors played their parts so well that even without the subtitles you could kind of tell what they were saying based on context alone. At no point was a line directed in a way that failed to have, what I assume, was its intended effect.The cinematography was also amazing and very artsy. There were some off-center or out of focus shots, normally irritating but here very wonderful. The lighting, the props, the camera angles--it was all gorgeous! That alone made me keep watching through the more grueling, slow suspense-building parts.Long story short: if you like good acting and amazing polish, this moving is a must see. If you're more interested in plot, then you should probably opt out.

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.

thecatcanwait "Contains scenes of abortion, incest, and cannibalism that some viewers might find upsetting" warns Film4. I don't remember it being especially upsetting the first time i watched it. Odd yes, but not graphic enough to be gruesome.Mrs Li wants rejuvenation. She gets Chinese Auntie – or Doctor, or ex-Abortionist – Mei to cook her up some nutritious little sushi parcels of power packed badness.You hear these dumplings being slowly crunched and scrunched down Mrs Li's pretty throat. Mrs Li knows, but isn't bothered, by eating dead baby dumpling. Crunch, crunch, crunch. Mrs Li vainly wants the "best stuff" so as to entice her philandering husband back; our Auntie Mei reckons first born foetus from a girl freshly raped by daddy is best. "A child of incest has extra potency". Chop, chop, chop with that meaty cleaver Auntie Mei, pop it in those funny tasting dumplings.They seem to have done the trick. Mrs Li is looking radiant, and Mr Li is all over her again. But there's an unfortunately side-effect: Mrs Li's skin has started to stink – like dead fish.Mr Li, the adulterous pig, is off to Aunt Mei to find out what's going on. Cannibalism was permissible in old China for medicinal purposes she tells him "When 2 people are deeply in love they desire to devour one another, to be inside each other" she's saying. That's urged him on to be inside her, shagging at her savagely over the kitchen table. Then he realises he's ravishing a pensioner (she eats her baby dumplings too) It's occurred to some critics – although not me – to see this film as a satire of China's authoritarian 'one-child' policy (which resulted in abortions galore) slyly soused inside the free market cannibalism of Hong Kong's capitalist consumerism.Reading this you might be feeling revolted at the mere notion of raw foetus being cooked up in dumpling. But because it's all glossily – even glassily – filmed, and synthetically conceived, you don't really feel like you're watching horror or horrible at all.Mind you, it did occur to me while watching that it's the South-East Asian appetite for exotic culinary ingredients that accounts for why half the planets population of tigers, whales, bats, etc is endangered.