Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Darth-Helmet In Hong Kong, an owner of a small Dumpling restaurant named Aunt Mei (Bai Leng) is famous for her special dumplings that help rejuvenation fast. Retired TV Actress Mrs. Lee is a loyal costumer who enjoys her delicious delicacy and feels more younger, but her dirty bastard of a husband is cheating on her as it wouldn't make any difference. Mei use to be a former abortionist and later Mrs. Lee will soon discover the secret recipe.Grueling, well acted and alarming horror thriller from Hong Kong that is one of the most shocking films to ever come from Asia. Director-Editor Fruit Chan has made one sick little movie that doesn't really have much gore but disturbing subject matter to make the viewer a little queasy. There is some dark humor to propel the sickening atmosphere of this movie that makes this little film one controversial shocker. The cinematography is well crafted and the direction is quite nifty, this movie will guaranteed to mess with your mind once it's over.

lastliberal This film from Chinese director Fruit Chan, written by Lilian Lee features the incredibly beautiful and talented Bai Ling. She makes the best dumplings; in addition, we get to see two incredible dumplings while she is chopping. Her dumplings constitute a fountain of youth. The ones she makes, not the ones she has.Her ingredients are the secret and they are something that would be unimaginable to those who haven't seen this film. When Mrs Lee (Miriam Yeung Chin Wah) finds out what she is being fed; oh, my! But, she returns for more treatments.The result is amazing and her husband, the multi-talented Tony Leung Ka Fai is all over her. She even gets pregnant, although told she never could.But, there is always a price to pay for what we want.

Claudio Carvalho In Hong Kong, Aunt Mei (Ling Bai) is a cook famous for her home-made rejuvenation dumplings, based on a millenarian recipe prepared with a mysterious ingredient that she brings directly from China. The former TV star Mrs. Li (Miriam Yeoung Chin Wah) visits Mei aiming her dumplings to recover her youth and become attractive again to her wolf husband Mr. Li (Tony Leung Ka Fai). Along the sessions, Mei tells Mrs. Li that she was a gynecologist in China with more than 30,000 abortions along ten years. When Mrs. Li requests an acceleration of the process, the opportunity comes when a fifteen years old teenager with a five months incestuous pregnancy comes with her mother and asks Mei to make an abortion.The bizarre "Gaau Ji" is a low budget Asian movie that Hollywood will never remake. The disturbing and gruesome story depicts an unpleasant theme, certainly a taboo for the American industry, and has excellent performances highlighting Ling Bai making the story totally believable. The Brazilian DVD prudently advises that this film contains strong scenes and is not recommended to pregnant women and sensitive persons, and I totally agree. However, it is highly recommended to audiences that expect to see the break of a taboo in Hollywoodian productions. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "Escravas da Vaidade" ("Slaves of the Vanity")Note: On 28 December 2012 I saw a short version of this film again in an imported DVD ("3 Extremes", segment "Dumplings").

sigmonae 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.