00:00Hi, Mystery Recapped here. Today, I'm going to explain a horror drama movie called Dumplings.
00:07Spoilers ahead. Watch out and take care.
00:13The movie begins at the China border where a young woman named May walks through a security
00:18checkpoint carrying a colorful lunchbox. She later reaches her home in Hong Kong and carefully
00:23unpacks the box. Most of the food is discarded, but she keeps one small item. An orange pulp
00:29like substance. She rinses it in a bowl of water and eats it raw like an animal. The next morning,
00:36a former TV actress, Mrs. Lee, arrives in the neighborhood searching for May's house. After
00:41wandering through the narrow streets, she finally finds it and is welcomed inside. As they sit down,
00:46May playfully asks her guest to guess her age. Mr. Lee stares at her for a while and guesses she must
00:52be around 30. But May laughs at the answer and reveals that she's much older. So old that everyone
00:58around her calls her aunt. I've known people that were aunts before they were even born,
01:04so that doesn't really mean anything. Following this, we finally get to know the reason for her
01:08visit. Once a celebrated star, Mrs. Lee's beauty was her greatest asset and her husband was devoted
01:14to her. But now, the years are catching up and she's terrified of losing both her looks and her
01:19husband's affection. Mrs. Lee learned through her sources that Aunt May's dumplings work better than
01:24any other cosmetics to make one look younger. She thus wants to try them in hopes of keeping
01:29her rich husband, Mr. Lee, close to her. Soon, May enters her kitchen to prepare the dumplings.
01:35She explains that her secret ingredient doesn't just improve appearances, it stops aging from within.
01:41May then uses all her expertise to craft the dumplings with special care. Once they're ready,
01:45she serves them to her guest, urging her to eat it while they're warm. But as soon as Mrs. Lee takes the
01:50first bite, there's an awkward pause. This is because the taste isn't good, and one dumpling
01:56even spills to the floor. But a calm May picks it up and reassures her guest, urging her to focus
02:02on the results. Have you seen the substance? People have dealt with far worse for this. She claims that
02:07her dumplings provide the rejuvenation that no other expensive cosmetic can ever provide. Encouraged by her
02:13words, Mrs. Lee closes her eyes and begins devouring the dumplings. The scene shifts to Mr. Lee,
02:19who is swimming in a pool, laughing and flirting with the women around him. After his swim, he sits
02:24by the pool and gets a massage from a young woman. His behavior turns inappropriate as he starts
02:29touching her and making suggestive comments. At one point, he cracks open an egg and eats something
02:34unusual from inside it. Mrs. Lee watches everything go down from her window. She is clearly troubled by
02:40her husband's actions and what it means for their relationship. Later, May visits a hospital and meets
02:46with a doctor. The latter hands are a box, but tells her that she can't keep providing the ingredient
02:52like before. May is slightly annoyed by this, but doesn't say a word and quietly leaves. The next day,
02:57Mrs. Lee visits May again for more dumplings. During their conversation, she asks what the secret
03:02ingredient is, to which May casually explains that she uses fetus meat. Mrs. Lee takes this as an obvious
03:09joke and doesn't ask any other further questions. Shortly after, the dumplings are prepared,
03:14and Mrs. Lee eats them with much delight. The scene abruptly changes and we see Mr. Lee being
03:21intimate with a young masseuse in a hotel. He seems to be greatly enjoying his time when he suddenly
03:26receives a call from his wife, Mrs. Lee. The disgruntled husband makes up a lie and tells her
03:31that he is currently busy in an important meeting. Later, when he returns back home, Mrs. Lee once more
03:37tries to catch his attention. She suggests that they should spend some time together on the occasion of
03:42their 15th anniversary, but her husband seems to have different plans and says he needs to leave
03:47for yet another important business trip. It is not as if Mrs. Lee doesn't know what these
03:52business trips are about, but she is unable to do anything as her husband hands her a check
03:57for a huge amount and asks her to enjoy herself. If things continue to go the same way, she will lose
04:03her husband and the luxurious life that comes with him. Unincreasingly desperate, Mrs. Lee now starts to
04:08visit May more frequently. The same dumplings that she used to find quite weird, she now eats
04:13casually. Mrs. Lee even starts giving out culinary tips to make the dumplings more palatable.
04:19Like, remember that their fetuses are- Several days pass by and May begins to notice a lot of
04:24changes in her client. Mrs. Lee's skin looks youthfully supple and the wrinkles around her eyes
04:29also seem to be vanishing. However, an extremely impatient Mrs. Lee cannot wait for several months
04:35as she fears that she will lose her husband by that time. She begs May to do something radical
04:40that will give her big changes in a short amount of time. May tells her to keep eating the dumplings,
04:45but promises to come up with some alternative method. Sometime later, just after Mrs. Lee leaves
04:51the apartment, a middle-aged woman arrives along with her young daughter Kate. The mother has heard
04:55that May used to be one of the best gynecologists in China and wants her to help Kate. It is then
05:01revealed that the young girl is currently five months pregnant, but her mother cannot afford
05:05the treatment in any hospital. We also learn that Kate was impregnated by her own father,
05:10which is why her mother is hell-bent on aborting the kid. However, May refuses to do so, as Kate is
05:16too young and the fetus is already five months old. I see where this is going and I would turn this movie
05:22off if I didn't have to recap it. She instead directs them to an illegal clinic where such procedures
05:27are carried out. May is also associated with the hospital, but not as a gynecologist or in any
05:32professional capacity. She actually takes pre-born fetuses from the clinic and infuses their flesh
05:38in her dumplings. This is her secret ingredient, the magic behind her everlasting youth. Well, that
05:45and a little paprika. On the other hand, Mrs. Lee tracks down the hotel where her husband is staying
05:50during his business trip. She quickly realizes that he is having an affair with a masseuse. This younger
05:55and better looking woman comes to his room every night and hangs up the do not disturb sign on the
06:01door. When you flip it over, it says getting yurked. Heartbroken by her husband's betrayal,
06:07Mrs. Lee takes May to her house where the two have a heart-to-heart conversation. They talk about
06:12their respective married lives and Mrs. Lee finally opens up. She reveals that she wants to start a
06:17family, but for some reason she can't seem to conceive. Furthermore, her husband has been seeing
06:22someone younger and better looking than her. Mrs. Lee again begs May to come up with some solution
06:27that could bring back her youth overnight. On the other hand, Kate's condition is also worsening with
06:32each passing day. She is now visibly pregnant and her mother visits May daily, begging her to help
06:37them. The very next day, May finally performs the risky procedure in her own apartment. She doesn't use
06:44any anesthetics during the surgery and successfully brings the fetus out. This causes Kate a lot of
06:49physical trauma, but May now has a pure fetus, untouched by any chemicals. All the other ones
06:56that she used in her dumplings were at max a month old. She hopes that this five-month untouched one
07:01will be the ingredient that exponentially increases the effects of her dumplings. They will at the very
07:06least taste less gamey. That was a disgusting joke. The next day, Mrs. Lee visits May, who promises
07:13to provide her with dumplings, which will make her look much younger in a short few hours. May then
07:18enters the kitchen and takes out the five-month-old fetus. As she's busy grinding up the flesh,
07:23Mrs. Lee decides to take a peek. The poor woman is horrified when she realizes that May was not lying
07:29about the fetus meat. This prompts her to immediately run away from the apartment. However, once she reaches
07:34the streets, Mrs. Lee starts to think about the consequences. Her beauty and youth are the only
07:39things that are holding her marriage together. She cannot afford to lose her husband and the luxurious
07:43life that comes with him. Hence, she returns to the apartment, where she watches May prepare the
07:48dumplings and later eats them with great interest. Is that paprika? A few hours later, Mrs. Lee begins
07:55to see the changes in her body. She now feels more enthusiastic and has a spring in her step. Things
08:01get even better when she returns home, and Mr. Lee compliments her beauty. You look almost as spry as
08:07the chick I'm cheating on you with. After a long time, the husband and wife make love to each other
08:12that night. Elsewhere, young Kate and her mother are traveling to their home on a bus. Kate is bleeding
08:17profusely because of the impractical abortion performed. She loses so much blood that she soon
08:22loses consciousness and collapses on the road. Unfortunately, she ends up dying in her mother's
08:28arms, devastating her. On the other hand, Mrs. Lee hosts a party for her friends, trying to flaunt her new
08:33gained beauty. She quickly gets this validation as everyone is in awe of her youthful appearance.
08:39However, things start going downhill when her friends complain about some awful fish-like smell
08:44coming off of her ass. Mrs. Lee is so embarrassed that she quickly rushes to the bathroom and locks
08:49herself in. She calls May and angrily inquires what kind of fetus was put inside the latest dumplings.
08:54She also threatens to inform the police if May doesn't quickly solve this problem. Unbeknownst to her,
09:00Mr. Lee has been eavesdropping on this conversation the whole time. Back on the phone, May reveals that
09:06she had used the fetus that was conceived through incest and assures her that the side effects will
09:11go away soon. Mrs. Lee is still incensed, but she has no choice but to wait, so she starts watching her
09:17old TV episodes. I'll watch my stories. Later that night, Mr. Lee pays a visit to May and inquires about
09:23her illegal business. She tells him that it's just a dumpling shop and asks him to get comfortable
09:28inside. She then starts preparing the dumplings while explaining to Mr. Lee about the merits of
09:33cannibalism and how it was celebrated in the past. She goes on to mention that people used to survive
09:38famines by eating their relatives. Human flesh was also used to cure various diseases, and even the
09:45soldiers used to celebrate their victory with the enemy's blood and meat. After May finishes cooking the
09:51dumplings, she serves it to Mr. Lee. He starts eating it without any hesitation and even seems to be
09:55interested in her. May notices this and begins to seduce the old businessman. She reveals that she
10:01is in fact 60 years old and looks so young because of her dumplings. Shortly after Mr. Lee finishes
10:08eating the dumplings, he grabs May and the two start spanking. Their session is briefly interrupted
10:13by a call from Mrs. Lee, who desperately asks May for more dumplings. However, the latter ignores these
10:19pleas and goes back to making love with her newest client. The next day, Mrs. Lee visits a hospital
10:25and explains about her bad odor problem, but the doctor simply advises her to remain indoors and
10:30consume nutritious foods. Just as Mrs. Lee is about to return home, she spots the young masseuse with
10:36whom her husband used to spend a lot of time. Mrs. Lee tails the woman and soon realizes that she is
10:42pregnant with her husband's child. Afraid of her relationship's future, Mrs. Lee starts roaming around
10:48the streets, sobbing uncontrollably. Shortly afterwards, she finds May inside a hair salon and begs her to
10:54provide her with the dumplings. Mrs. Lee also assures her that money is not an issue and hands her a huge
10:59check. However, May ignores her and coldly says that there are no more dumplings. Mrs. Lee is stunned
11:06by this sudden change in behavior and storms out of the salon. Seconds after she departs, Mr. Lee calls
11:12May and asks to meet her privately. The scene shifts and we see two police officers hurrying towards
11:18Kate's apartment. They find her mother holding a knife that is covered in blood. It is revealed that the
11:22woman has stabbed her husband to death for what he did to their daughter. This horrible news soon reaches
11:28May, who immediately leaves her apartment with all her belongings. When Mrs. Lee visits May's apartment
11:34later, she finds it being raided by the police. Following this, Mrs. Lee heads back to the hospital
11:39where she tracks down the young masseuse. The latter reveals that she is five months pregnant and Mr. Lee
11:44has promised to pay her a handsome amount if she delivers him a healthy baby. Mrs. Lee is surprisingly happy at the
11:51news and mentions that she wants the baby to be aborted. In return, she is willing to pay double
11:56the amount that her husband has promised. The masseuse agrees to the offer right away and we see
12:01Mrs. Lee asking the daughter not to use any drugs while performing the abortion. It is now obvious
12:06that she wants to create her own dumplings so that she can preserve her beauty. The movie comes to a close
12:12as May cautiously walks on the streets with her belongings while Mrs. Lee chops up a fetus
12:18to prepare the dumplings for herself. Keep an eye out for the sequel, Gyoza.
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