Udon

I think the Japanese have a fine sense of the human nature. Tension and conflict abound within and between individuals and many of the important characters experience some form of personal growth.

A young boy is in complete conflict with his father as he has no intention to take over the family business, as is expected of him. After failing to make it in the big city, the boy returns to the small town. On a mission to locate all the Udon Shops in the area he finally comes to value Udon.

This is a real food movie. As soon as the action picks up there are many scenes of making and preparing Udon which include (appealing to our senses) close ups of prepared Udon.

Oishi !!!

Don't watch Udon on an empty stomach, or you'll be tempted to gorge on those Japanese noodles right after the screening. Despite its simple presentation, watching bowls after bowls of noodles in your face, and the characters slurping them down with gusto, somehow leaves you with an imagined flavour in your mouth as they smack their lips, while you smack at nothing.

The film is as simple as a bowl of udon noodles, with prime ingredients being the fat noodles, the broth, a sprinkle of spring onions, and an egg. Of course there are the fancy combinations of added condiments and ingredients to spice things up, but unfortunately for the film, it became a story of two distinct halves, with little character development between each half, and contained a little too many subplots that were necessary, bringing the runtime to a whopping 2 hours 15 minutes.

I thought the more interesting of the lot was in the first half, where the movie takes a look on fads. Similarly to Bubble Tea or the Luohan Fish fads, what turned out to be essentially fairly good products, boomed in popularity because it managed to latch on the novelty factor, and yet suffered when its 15 minutes of fame was up. Scores of bubble tea stores collapse from the oversupply and people generally being sick of the drink, and the Luohan fish went back to the longkangs. Good intentions sometimes bring about uncontrollable negative costs.

But Udon as "soul food", and the highlight of a magazine column, sparked off the rage of the noodle in all of Japan, as everyone descends to the small town of Sanuki where there are plenty of Udon eateries around tucked in obscure corners. The movie follows two protagonists - Kosuke Matsui (Yusuke Santamaria), a failed comedian who tried his luck at New York stand up comedy clubs, and returns to his hometown where his father runs a mean udon shop, and Kyoko Miyagawa (Manami Konishi), a blur like sotong girl who has zero sense of direction. Kosuke, in wanting to clear his debts, and not in good terms with Dad, turns out to work as a salesman of a local magazine, and becomes colleagues with Kyoko, before the entire editorial crew jumped upon the opportunity of scouting and reviewing various Udon shops, positioning themselves in time for the craze.

My eyes were on the bowls of noodle, as well as the cute looking Manami Konishi, who had a bit part in Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Retribution, where she had pretty little to do. As the heroine in Udon, don't expect much too, but at least she plays the supportive friend, while being comic fodder in the first half. For those who prefer drama, the second half of Udon will be your cup of tea, as the movie shifts into lower gear to examine the love-hate ties between Kosuke and his dad, and would be chefs out there would want to pay attention here to pick up some secrets into preparing that perfect bowl of udon.

Coupled with a bit of comedy and a snazzy CGI-ed sequence played totally for its cheese, director Katsuyuki Motohiro and writer Masashi Todayama seemed to have piled on too much for Udon, unlike their earlier work on the Bayside Shakedown movies, which had a lot going, but managed to pull it off because it still boiled down to cops solving crime, in a rather daily operational look at the police force from different perspectives of those on the beat, and those on the ivory tower.

But similar to being spoilt for choice with udon being served and prepared in either hot in cold, hot in hot or just cold, Udon the movie couldn't decide what it wants to be - pseudo- documentary, comedy, family drama, romance, that while each serves its purpose, these ingredients don't manage to gel together to become a formidable dish. Watchable, but nothing too memorable.

Although this film can be simply be defined as a film about noodles, it goes beyond that. Kosuke bombs out as a comedian in New York,so he returns home to Sanuki prefecture in Japan, the heart of "udon country". He ends up on a magazine and he along with Kyoko (Maname Konishi) and others seek to find all the udon places in the prefecture. This interest mushrooms, the magazine becomes wildly successful, there is an udon craze etc. Most important is the side story, regarding Kosuke and his father, who is an udon maker, seemingly the only thing he is interested in. The film explores through the plot involving the joy of eating udon with the complex relationship of father and son. The film works because it is told in a straightforward manner, Kosuke is not seen as a loser and the co-workers, especially Kyoko, share his enthusiasm. The film will make you very hungry for udon. Enjoy this film, which has sentimentality, humor and engaging performances throughout. Its two hours of fun.

I really enjoyed that film. Maybe I am under family influence, because my wife was born in Japan Kagawa prefecture, where this film were made, but I think it is a film that describes perfectly the life in a small Japanese rural area and how passionate Japanese are for food subjects. I saw in "Udon" many influences from Juzo Itami's "Tampopo", another food comedy, that proves that Itami is an undervalued director by both critics and audience and his influence will be seen in 21st century film makers. Despite it is a long time, you never find boring scenes and the action is intense and attractive, so you always find interests to watch the film. I'm sure that "Udon" will be one of the films that will "survive" and will still talk about it in the next decades.

This film argues that udon is truly the Japanese soul food (or maybe Japan's ubiquitous fast food). Founded on that premise, UDON ties together the lives and passions of characters who are changed when a local udon fad that sweeps over Japan. When Yosuke Santamaria (Yosuke Matsui), a failed stand up comedian, meets a harried local journalist (Konishi Manami), their chemistry helps fuel a food phenomenon.

The film's basic subject matter is inherently interesting. Eating udon; making udon; salivating over udon. This singlehanded focus captures the fascination for one of Japan's most popular foods. Co-star Konishi Manami adds comic tempo to the mix; she's proved, time and again, to be a compulsively watchable film presence.

The prologue in New York is almost embarrassingly trite, and some of the comic antics are forced - like a fantasy sequence with Yosuke as a masked udon crime-fighter. (Some other sequences are as predictable and hackneyed as it comes.) But as long as udon is being served or eaten, there's magic here.

Or maybe the magic of editing might have done wonders.