The curious underbelly of modern society is rarely explored to the levels that it is done by Asian cinema. From themes such as revenge, fear and anger to honour and betrayal, human frailties are often what drives these films. ‘Dumplings’ is a fine case in point, focusing on the eternal quest for youth, and the fear that drives people to capture it.

Had Hollywood taken on the subject matter, you fear that you might have ended up with a shallow, unimaginative and derivative take on the ‘bodyshock’ genre of cinema. Instead what you have here is a well paced and unflinching look at one of the few remaining taboos in society.

Qing (Miriam Yeung) is a former actor in Hong Kong. Aware that her once stunning looks are fading, and that her husband may start to stray, she winds up at the door of mainland immigrant, Mei (Bai Ling). Mei is famed for her homemade dumplings, which are rumoured to have regenerative powers thanks to her ‘secret’ recipe. True enough she is revitalized and become hypnotized to the notion of regaining her lost youth, but she is fully aware that Mei’s secret ingredients could well have a very nasty aftertaste.

Without going into too much detail, as much to save you throwing up over your keyboards as to not spoil the plot, the secret ingredient is as bad as you think it is... Given that Mei regularly travels to the mainland and visits some of the shadier ‘disposal’ units of local hospitals as well as performing domestic medical procedures on young, errant girls you can start to piece together the story. That said nothing is spelled out in too obvious a fashion by director Fruit Chan, who allows the stellar cast to express so much of the horror and tension in the simple but effective script.

Miriam Yeung is great as the desperate wife trying so hard to impress her rich husband. She says a lot with her eyes and facial expressions, and her gradual slide towards some truly horrifying actions is utterly believable. That cannot be said of Mei, which by the way is no bad thing. Bai Ling plays an utterly unapologetic movie monster, with such glee that it is a guilty pleasure to watch. Her character is so trashy and downright nasty (in every sense of the word), that the moment she appears on screen there is jolt to the system.

The subject matter is not easy, and the soul of the film is a million miles from what you might be expecting, but in the slim pickings of this summer, ‘Dumplings’ stands apart. Given that the Daily Mail didn’t like it, you couldn’t get a better recommendation than that!