Gau ji (2004)

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.

Director:

Fruit Chan

Writer:

Pik-Wah Lee (as Lillian Lee)

Stars:

Pauline Lau, Tony Ka Fai Leung, Bai Ling

3 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Pauline Lau	...	Masseuse
Tony Ka Fai Leung	...	Mr. Li (as Tony Ka-Fai Leung)
Bai Ling	...	Mei, The Cook
Meme Tian	...	Connie (as Meme)
So-Foon Wong	...	Kate's mother
Miki Yeung	...	Kate
Miriam Chin Wah Yeung	...	Mrs. Li

Storyline

In Hong Kong, Aunt Mei 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 visits Mei aiming her dumplings to recover her youth and become attractive again to her wolf husband Mr. Li. 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.

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Plot Keywords:

dumpling | hotel | looking at oneself in a mirror | rejuvenation | abortion | 

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Genres:

Drama | Horror

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Certificate:

R18

Did You Know?

Trivia

Spawned from the short Dumplings from the Asian cross-cultural trilogy Three... Extremes (2004). Includes the same director and star.

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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.

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Quotes

Mei, the cook: [first lines]
Mei, the cook: Mrs. Li? You're so beautiful.
Mrs. Li: They say your dumplings are the most expensive.
Mei, the cook: Of course! Please come in.

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Connections

Edited from Sam gang 2 (2004)

User Reviews

How far would you go in order to look young?

Now this is my least favorite segment in "Three Extremes", but seeing how the it's a lot longer than the short segment made me enjoy it a lot more. Now some horror movies are better left with some of the mystery surrounding it and is better left with leaving some stuff out. I personally think that wasn't the case for this film, although I thought some of the stuff in this extended version would have been better if left out, majority of the stuff is a real plus. A lot of the dialogue is interesting that was left out in "Three Extremes", and makes you think about women and there struggle to look young. The film also deals with the one child policy in China and questions how far would someone people go in order to look young. The cinematography was good and it's a well acted, well paced film with a pretty good horror plot. I wasn't so sure about the extended version, but glad it came about. It's a engrossing and disturbing yet interesting while having other elements that will keep most horror fans pleased.

7.6/10

Details

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Mandarin Cantonese

Release Date:

19 August 2004 (Hong Kong)

Also Known As:

Jiao zi

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$763,552

Company Credits

Production Co:

Applaus Pictures Limited, Applause Pictures, Fortissimo Film Sales

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1