Movie Review

Three... Extremes

Three Extremes is a feature broken up into three short films of around forty minutes each. Filmmakers Fruit Chan, Chan-wook Park and Takashi Miike are the heads behind this project, respectively, and each had the goal of telling the most vile, disgusting story they could manage. Three Extremes is just that: Three extreme stories that are supposed to disturb your senses.

The problem with reviewing such a film is that revealing the sick details takes part of the mystery away. I walked into this one pretty blindly, unsure as to what it was about, but I wanted to be taken aback by the material. Perhaps it was because this year has been so boring at the movies that I wanted something that didn?t hold back ? something that wasn?t PG-13 and would dare to have bad taste in a good name. Films today have been tampered with so much so that practically anyone of any age won?t be offended. So I was looking forward to Three Extremes in that regard. The problem is that only one of the three short films works, and the one that does isn?t even ?extreme.? As a foreign film, though, I can?t say that its boredom factor really surprised me.

Ironically, Chan-wook Park?s film ? the second short ? was the appealing one, and I had not been a fan of his feature-length thriller, Oldboy (C+), this year. With that film, it was obvious Park had directorial chops, but the script was too much like Memento, and I didn?t feel that the characterization in the first act worked in order to root for the main character. It seems that Park might do best with a limited time span, as his directorial chops are in effect once again here, and this forty-minute stretch is what Oldboy should?ve been like for two hours.

Park has a very cool sense of production design and tone, and while I didn?t care for the silliness in Oldboy, the goofy humor in his short film, ?Cut,? was surprisingly fitting for my taste. The short film surrounds a young hotshot director who is cornered by an extra of his past who wants revenge. Part of the disappointment of this segment is that the ?extreme? factor of it was also in Oldboy in a slightly different variation. There, the violence had no effect on me due to the inadequate characterization all-around. Here, it has some effect, but part of the effect is taken away because Park cuts away from the gruesome details (which is odd considering the goal behind this project). The short film is nice to look at and the performances are solid, and Park?s bizarre sense of humor mixes well with the violence. But it?s not that extreme, and for Oldboy viewers it is simply familiar territory executed a little better.

The first short film by Fruit Chan has the right ingredients to really screw with your appetite, but it?s in need of an adequate story behind it, which makes the vile nature of it less impacting. The extreme factor of this bit is ?out there,? and it?s the kind of material that Three Extremes as a whole should contain; the substance probably isn?t nightmare inducing, but it will likely stay with you. This short film and the last one are prime examples of why foreign films can really irritate me: They have good actors and a director with talent, but the stories are just downright boring. Acting is generally first-rate in foreign films, which is why critics can be pretty quick to recommend them. But their stories rarely take me in; a film with great actors and a lackluster script is painful. If I were to give away Chan?s nasty subject, I would be ruining the only reason to see this film (for disgusting-tastes-sake). The short doesn?t work, but the idea behind it is ideal for this project. And the film?s position in the running time is not quite ideal, either: It?s as vile as the feature ever gets, leaving disappointment for anybody who thinks that it?s great promise for more in the next two.

The last short film (entitled "Box") by Takashi Miike shines in terms of cinematography, but the material isn?t extreme by any stretch; it?s a pretty basic murder scenario that doesn?t make us feel like the main character who goes through harsh motions. The short film is shot so beautifully, though, that it should be Miike?s calling card for future American career pieces (his past involves overseas productions). His next American film, though, is Halloween: Retribution, which is the next Halloween sequel after Resurrection. I can?t say he?s in promising hands, but hopefully he?ll do something with it.

I guess the fact that Three Extremes isn?t what it was made out to be isn?t quite a surprise. Usually when something special comes along, you hear about it in advance because the buzz builds. Like with The Blair Witch Project, there was unbelievable hype circulating the internet as a result of the unforgettable online marketing campaign, and it arrived in limited release with thunder. I heard no such thunder on Three Extremes before its opening day, and hadn?t even heard of it before. The only reason I knew about the film was because I happened to drive by a theater playing it on its opening day ? and on the marquee, a critic was quoted as saying, ?the most vile film you?ll likely see all year.? I don?t always trust critics ? especially on foreign fare ? but I wanted to check this one out; it had a nice catch. Three Extremes ended up living up to the hype: In a lackluster year with so many average films, this experience was just downright ordinary.

Lee's Grade: C+

A	0.4%
B	30.0%
C	61.7%
D	8.0%
F	0.0%