Gaau ji (2004)

Rating:	★★★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Foreign

Also known as Dumplings (English Title) Nouvelle Cuisine (French Title)

Plot Synopsis;
It seems that few woman can resist the temptation of potential rejuvenation - for some it's a dreamy blissful chase, yet for others a never-ending nightmare of endless pursuit. But Mrs Lee can afford it all. An ex-starlet turned wife of a prominent rich man, she is destined to have this dream come true. She uses a lot of connections to get to the mysterious chef, Mei to obtain her famous specialty dumplings. At stake is her new "career" as a housewife of the rich. Mei's dumplings claim to deliver the goods. Mei, a former gynecologist, developed a secret recipe for rejuvenation which has allowed her to bid farewell to her career as an illegal abortionist. Now Mei only serves desperate rich women. Mei understands a woman's need and she can fulfill a woman's desire -- all you need is a leap of faith to take a bite into her special dumplings with their secret ingredient.

What I thought;
It’s nice to get away from mainstream movies from time to time. This movie by Chinese director Fruit Chan is definitely not what I would call conventional in content and in it’s lack of special effects. Christopher Doyle did a great job creating atmospheric cinematography, using some superb camera angles.

Not exactly a horror film, but definitely not one for the squeamish. The audience is gradually let in on the secret ingredient and the details grow more and more gruesomely explicit. This is definitely not a film that I'll need to, or even want to, view over and over again, but who said that good films are only measured by the number of times one can enjoy them?

Should you watch it? The only recommendation I can give, is that it's an interesting experience seeing what film makers produce outside of the Hollywood studio system.