I thought "Ichi The Killer" and "Oldboy" were interestingly weird films, so I rented "Three...Extremes" on the basis of what I knew about Miike and Park. I figured that if Fruit Chan was notorious enough to be included in an anthology with those two directors, his contribution would more than hold its own.<br /><br />Well...the results were worth seeing once. "Dumplings" was both the most revolting and the most socially savvy of the stories; "Box" displayed the deepest emotions in a tale of loneliness and despair disguised as a ghost story; and "Cut" was the most overtly gruesome and had the most gimmicky and contrived plot.<br /><br />Since I am unfamiliar with Chan's work, I can't say whether he stretched himself or tried anything new, but I do think that the acting and direction here were the most subtle and complex in the trilogy. Park's stuff seemed very much of a piece with his previous tales of violence and Hitchcockian entrapment that drive the protagonist to despair. But Miike surprised me, since "Box" was entirely different in tone and structure from his famous film "Ichi", and I wasn't expecting anything like this from him. "Box" is more of a waking dream such as Lynch would do in "Lost Highway" or "Mulholland Drive" and I thought some of the dialog and photography were most impressive. Good for you, Miike, you're even smarter than I thought! <br /><br />As anthology films go, this was pretty good, although nothing that anyone will remember in a decade. Worth getting or at least renting if you are a fan of any of the directors,or if you want to see something relatively fresh from cultures whose clichés and conventions haven't worn out their welcome in the Occident.At least not yet.<br /><br />Note about the DVD edition I saw: The 2nd disc in the package offers a "feature length" version of the Chan story "Dumplings". The additional footage is very well integrated into the original and this long version gives the "Aunt Mei" character and the philandering husband more screen time and adds an extra sex scene. But it doesn't change the real thrust of the original story enough to make it a "must see" unless you really dug Aunt Mei. If the only DVD you can find is a bare bones edition without the feature length version, don't worry that you've missed anything vital.