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Dumplings

Original title: Gau ji
  • 20042004
  • Not RatedNot Rated
  • 1h 31m
IMDb RATING
6.7/10
9.7K
YOUR RATING
Dumplings (2004)
Mei is a trashy, former abortion doctor who shuttles back and forth across the HK-China border with benign-looking containers of glistening dumplings. Bound not for the family dinner table, these dumplings are of a special sort, and the preferred meal of a high-paying clientele who seek their famed youth-renewing powers. Qing is a nearing-40 former soap actress clinging to her youth and attempting to win back her philandering husband, who sucks down chicken fetuses in an attempt to maintain his own vigor. Regular meals at Mei's apartment only whet her appetite for eternally smooth skin, and trigger an ominous search for an even more potent variety of the dumplings' secret ingredient. 

The ingredient in question, while appalling, is only a warm-up to the twisted moral and cosmic consequences that result from the ethical-boundary-free rules that govern their universe. In his best film to date, Chan masterfully holds a mirror up to the increasingly frightening world around us, and pushes all the right buttons.
Play trailer1:29
1 Video
67 Photos
DramaHorror
Aunt Mei's famous homemade dumplings provide amazing age-defying qualities popular with middle-aged women. But her latest customer - a fading actress - is determined to find out what the sec... Read allAunt Mei's famous homemade dumplings provide amazing age-defying qualities popular with middle-aged women. But her latest customer - a fading actress - is determined to find out what the secret ingredient is.Aunt Mei's famous homemade dumplings provide amazing age-defying qualities popular with middle-aged women. But her latest customer - a fading actress - is determined to find out what the secret ingredient is.
IMDb RATING
6.7/10
9.7K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Fruit Chan
  • Writer
    • Pik-Wah Lee
  • Stars
    • Wai-Ling Chan
    • Ho Fung Chuk
    • Pauline Lau
  • Director
    • Fruit Chan
  • Writer
    • Pik-Wah Lee
  • Stars
    • Wai-Ling Chan
    • Ho Fung Chuk
    • Pauline Lau
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 42User reviews
    • 68Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 3 wins & 3 nominations

    Videos1

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 1:29
    Watch Official Trailer

    Photos67

    Dumplings (2004)
    Dumplings (2004)
    Dumplings (2004)
    Dumplings (2004)
    Dumplings (2004)
    Dumplings (2004)
    Dumplings (2004)
    Dumplings (2004)
    Dumplings (2004)
    Dumplings (2004)
    Dumplings (2004)
    Dumplings (2004)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Wai-Ling Chan
    • High Society Woman 2
    Ho Fung Chuk
    • High Society Woman 1
    Pauline Lau
    • Masseuse
    Po-Lin Lau
    • Li's maid
    • (as Pauline Lau Bo-Lin)
    Tony Ka Fai Leung
    Tony Ka Fai Leung
    • Mr. Li
    • (as Tony Ka-Fai Leung)
    Bai Ling
    Bai Ling
    • Mei, The Cook
    Meme Tian
    Meme Tian
    • Connie
    • (as Meme)
    So-Foon Wong
    • Kato's Mother
    Sum-Yeung Wong
    • Old Hair Dresser
    Miki Yeung
    Miki Yeung
    • Kato
    Miriam Chin Wah Yeung
    Miriam Chin Wah Yeung
    • Mrs. Li
    • Director
      • Fruit Chan
    • Writer
      • Pik-Wah Lee
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Spawned from the short Dumplings from the Asian cross-cultural trilogy Three... Extremes (2004). Includes the same director and star.
    • Goofs
      In the bath scene where Mrs. Li is sobbing whilst watching the drama. The crying doesn't match up with the movements of the body/ head and mouth.
    • Quotes

      Mei, the cook: Let me tell you, all expensive cosmetics claim to contain precious stuff like bird's nest, ginseng, pearl powder, pollen, royal jelly, whatever. Who cares? For women to rejuvenate, you must start from inside for the best result. Only my secret formula can do this. Mrs. Li, think of the results, not what it was.

    • Connections
      Edited from Three... Extremes (2004)

    User reviews42

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    7/10
    They do anything to stay young and pretty!
    There are things you can't believe people just do to achieve something important to them. This, I think, I call obsession. And what is obsession? I define it as an irrational motive for performing trivial or inchoerent and compulsive actions against everyone's will. A psychological feature that is inconsistent with reason or logic.

    And that's what this movie is about: To remain beautiful and young, a woman embarks in a sick and disgusting taste for a repugnant menu... Dumplings as they say... but really they're more than that!

    This remind me of Erzsébet Báthory, Countess of Transylvania during the XVII century, when she firmly believed that if she bathed in the blood of young virgins she could be young and healthy forever.

    "Dumplings" is uncomfortable, nauseous but captivating at the same time. The story of Ching Lee (Miriam Yeung), retired TV actress, who goes into the moral's depths of pursuing the eternal youth. With her betraying husband (Tony Leung Ka Fai) and the underground female chef Mei (Bai Ling), the critic goes far beyond the main subject, talking about, ironically, the narcissist impulses and the birth control in China as in the superfluous and pointless today's society way of living.

    The movie is a spiral between revenge, betrayal, obsession and frustration with some vile and loathsome graphical scenes that should, undoubtedly, be offensive for the sensible ones.

    Rather than be just a shocking film, Fruit Chan, the director, constructs a masterpiece of unappeasable fixation that's to stay young at all costs and thus, deepening it into the viewer's subconscious, awakes us to other facts: When we have a strong physiological obsession, we humans, do whatever it takes to fulfill that desire...
    helpful•18
    2
    • jpgonc
    • Apr 23, 2006

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • August 19, 2004 (Hong Kong)
    • Country of origin
      • Hong Kong
    • Languages
      • Mandarin
      • Cantonese
    • Also known as
      • 餃子
    • Production companies
      • Applaus Pictures Limited
      • Applause Pictures
      • Fortissimo Film Sales
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    • Gross worldwide
      • $763,552
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 31 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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