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.

Those who've seen the Dumplings short on the rather awesome 3 Extremes compilation know basically what to expect here. Much as Se7en became known for its "What's in the box?" sequence, this movie has become infamous for "What's inside the titular dumplings?", the answer of which is far grimmer than the severed head of a terrible actress. It's played very well, with the revelation ensuring that many lines of dialogue create shivers and every crackly crunch of a dumpling being munched on inducing squirms in most audience members. Sure, it's a one trick pony, but when the trick involves sledgehammering one of humanity's ultimate taboos, then you don't really need another.Dumpings is about a woman who's desperate to get rid of some wrinkles and give her skin that youthly glow in order to hold her husband's interest. Of course, any husband worth a damn would oblige by dropping trou and offering up a batch of the world's most effective face moisturiser, but this guy's too busy with business and shagging women on the side to perform this kindly service. Their relationship is somewhat typical of the phenomenon whereby male wealth and female beauty go hand in hand. It's how we end up with the sugar daddy concept and why we see Donald Trump types marrying fake-tanned, fake-titted models a third of their age; females across the globe striving for ultimate beauty just so they can spread their legs for a guy old enough to be their grandfather in return for a diamond necklace. The sacred bond of marriage has become, in many cases, nothing more than a form of socially acceptable prostitution. I now pronounce you scumbag and whore. Now sign your certificate and start trading services.So, Dumplings comments on this societal plague that sees a woman's beauty as a quantitative valuation of her overall worth, but it's also about the need to prolong one's youth to the detriment of others, mainly the youth themselves. The idea of leaving a better world for our children has been discarded in favour of a "me first" attitude where scrambling for every possible way to make the most out of life contributes to a legacy that damns the children before they've even left the womb. The Beatles told the baby boomers that all they needed was love, but the baby boomers weren't listening. They don't want love, they want a nicer house. Then they want the car they've always dreamed of, but then they need another car to drive to work. Of course that means they need a new house with a double garage, and while they're at it, why not buy another house as an investment property. The next generation inherits a world where luxuries have become necessities because you can't possibly be happy unless you own lots of stuff, right? Right? So you'd better work your ass off to get those things or else other people will think you're a failure. Screw weekends, that's 2 whole days that you could be working to buy more things. Oh, but make sure you get to the gym at 5 am because you're no spring chicken anymore, and remember your next Botox treatment is on Sunday. Follow that through to its logical conclusion and you have a whole bunch of great looking parents spawning the most spoiled, privileged generation of kids in history who are cutting themselves out of sheer boredom and apathy toward their own self-worth. Future fetuses being masticated between the teeth of superficial here-and-now "happiness", because the human race forgot that all it needed was love.What does that have to do with Dumplings? Nothing really. Got a little side-tracked. Sorry 'bout that. Incidentally, it's a good movie. You should check it out, even if you've already seen the short.

Dumplings is a film that takes eating dumplings to another level. When going to watch this movie I thought it was going to be a little weird but after seeing it, it was nothing that I expected. The dumplings were made out of babies and embryos.The concept behind the film is interesting. These specially made dumplings are created to make women appear younger in age. It makes the characters look even more obsessed with their looks. Although the want to look younger is a normal thought it is how it is done and the images shown in the film that make the film both eye grabbing and uncomfortable.One of the most disturbing parts is when a girl comes in to get an abortion. The way it is performed is uncleanly and painful. Blood spills everywhere as if it were a gory horror film. After the abortion is performed the bloody (almost fully grown) baby is placed in a filled sink. Later it is shown being processed and cut up to be put in the dumplings.Normally watching people eating food isn't bad to watch however after seeing all that is done to make it when the camera zooms in to a woman's face slowly eating the dumplings the site of someone chewing becomes nauseating. Sitting there watching her eat seemed like the longest scene in the film.I strongly recommend this film to watch how ever if you have a week stomach I would stay away. More movies should be made like this. It is interesting to see an ordinary daily action turn into something twisted.

Okay. Intellectually, I can appreciate what it is trying to say. The social commentary is biting and unflinching. In this film, all of the women are victims in some way of a perverse, materialistic society in which they exist as sex objects and fantasies for men. Once they grow old, they are discarded, their lives now purposeless, impoverished, and empty. The promotion for this film says that Mrs. Li, the protagonist, is motivated by vanity, but this is not quite the case. She is simply so twisted by the need to please her man and, in effect, to survive, that she will commit the most horrifying crime imaginable. I am NOT excusing her behavior- she chose her path for herself, and could have turned back once she realized what was going on- but I think that Fruit Chan is trying to show that society is sick, not simply Mrs. Li. There are also interesting class issues going on. The literal image of the rich making a feast of the poor in order to be rejuvenated is powerful, if disgusting.THIS SAID, I had to walk out of this movie and have a nice cup of tea. I just couldn't stand any more dead babies being chopped up. Fruit Chan spares no one and cares nothing for decency. This movie got me thinking, which I suppose is a good thing, but I'd have maybe rather read this as a novel than see all the gory details in a movie. It is a good film, well made, and says something important about the way we live now, but it is not enjoyable, and unless you know what you're in for ahead of time, and still want to see it, I would advise you stay home.