Watching Dragon, Hidden Growler

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Many Chinese and East Asian films are very successful due to their fantastic creativity and innovation.

Here are a selection that deserve your attention.

This article was also featured in Chinatown - The Magazine.

Rawle Austin presents...

Dumplings

I really didn’t know what to expect when watching this film. I had a vague idea but was still intrigued. This film was partly set in Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province, China. It’s a place I’m very fond of so it was a pleasure to see it again on the big screen. I have a slight favourable bias towards Chinese mandarin language films as I’m still learning the language so any opportunity to hear it is great.

So. Where was I? Oh yes, Dumplings. Mei, a strange chef claims to have the secret of eternal youth.

All you have to do is take a steady, weekly course of her specially made dumplings. Containing a special ingredient.

Now the legend goes, this ingredient has been used for centuries and a only a few people know of it. Naturally, she has a constant stream of wealthy customers.

Enter a fading actress whose marriage is on the rocks and fears once her stunning good looks start to disappear she’ll lose her rich husband forever. This is where the action starts.

I have to say that this is a stunning, macabre film. It’s very haunting, slightly disturbing and thoroughly gripping from start to finish.

I’d never heard of director Fruit Chan (Chen Guo) before I saw this movie but he’s definitely one to look out for in the future. The secret ingredient? I’ll come to that. Director Fruit Chan was born in Guangzhou, China in 1959 and moved to Hong Kong at the age of ten. His first film was Five Lonely Hearts in 1991 but it was the 1997 film Made in Hong Kong, which flung Fruit Chan headlong into the spotlight of the film world.

He wrote, directed, edited and co-produced that feature which won Best Director and Best Film at the Hong Kong Film awards in the same year.

Dumplings is Chan’s first horror movie and, believe me, you won’t forget it in a hurry after you’ve seen it.

Director’s quote “Women in Hong Kong, like any others in every other major city of the world, represent an incontestable consuming power.

The post-millennium consumer priority of the female sex has switched from fashion and styling to weight-loss programs and beauty make-overs.

Women no longer need to quietly accept the stigma of aging but can openly strive for the ultimate ecstasy from overnight rejuvenation.” This gives you the main theme of the film and it’s an interesting subject. A subject the cast tackle with relish. Bai Ling. Actress Bai Ling is great. This is the first time I’ve ever seen her and already I want to see more. Totally natural, she gave an absolutely barnstorming performance. You are completely immersed in her world and just wonder what she’s going to do next. She plays Mei, the mysterious chef and I feel she stole every minute of screen time that she was in. Plain speaking and blunt her character is destined to be one of the greats of cinema.

Bai Ling was born in Sichuan province in China and her first experience of acting came at the age of fourteen while part of a performance troop for soldiers in Xizang province (Tibet).

From there she learnt to refine her craft at the Sichuan Theatre Company.

Her first starring role was in the film Shan Cun Feng Yue in 1987. She emigrated to the United States in 1991 where she had many roles including a part as a villain in The Crow (1994).

She made people sit up and take notice in 1997 when she starred alongside Richard Gere in Red Corner. That same year she was selected by People Magazine as one of the 50 most beautiful People in the World.

After many other starring roles she had a part in 2004’s blockbuster Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

Dumplings is her triumphant return to Chinese cinema and this is her first Hong Kong film.

I guarantee, on the strength of this, we’ll be seeing many more.

Miriam Chin-Wah Yeung (Yang Qianhua) plays Qing Li, the rich socialite wife of a millionaire businessman and former TV star. Qing Li is desperate to keep this majestic lifestyle and knows it will end if her husband divorces her. Therefore she is seduced by the offer of eternal beauty. All contained in that secret ingredient. Miriam Yeung plays the role to perfection. Instantly believeable, Yeung is in fact one of the most popular and versatile female artists in Hong Kong.

Her beginnings are the stuff of legend. She was formerly a registered nurse in 1995 and accompanied a friend to an audition for a singing contest. Her friend was rejected immediately but she got to the final, winning third place.

Her constant hard work has paid off ever since and she has released 8 albums, won 40 awards for her singing career and plays to sold out concerts.

Yeung has also starred in a stage musical, 5 primetime television drams series, 11 movies (mainly comedies) and also television commercials.

Her first film role was in the movie Group in 1998 but her defining moment came in the 2002 romantic comedy (rom com) film Love Undercover which cemented her box office status.

Dumplings marks a determination from Yeung to move away from the comedy genre she is known for. She was also the UN Ambassador for AIDS awareness for 2000 and 2002. The whole film is sumptuously shot by Christopher Doyle who is an absolute master of cinematography. The atmosphere and mood throughout the film, scene by scene, is captured brilliantly.

There’s always something going on and it demands your attention. Doyle’s adopted Chinese name is Du Ke Feng which means “like the wind”.

He’s worked with some of the giants of Chinese cinema including Zhang Yimou, Wong Kar-wai and Chen Kaige.

He has also worked on music videos for Faye Wong, Cui Jian and Tony Leung.

To sum up then, Dumplings is a film that you must see. It’s chilling in places but a great story and a fine example of the quality of Chinese cinema.

It's presented by Tartan Films and has a UK release date of 16th June 2006.

Oh, and that secret ingredient? The one you’re dying to know?

You'll have to watch the movie to find out.

Running time: 91 minutes, Certificate: 18

An Interview with Byambasuren Davaa>

<Intial D: Driftracer - A Review

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