Hungry Ghost Diner

A very interesting & heartwarming story about traditional Chinese Hungry Ghost festival. As an Indonesian-born Chinese I have been blindly celebrating the festival whole life without knowing the cultural meaning behind it.

Unpredicted story line with some supposed to be spooky scene but too funny to be scared of. Some side stories seems a bit forceful but overall easy to understand & enjoy.

Deducted few points due to bad camera focus almost the entire movie, not sure if it's intended that way. However got few interesting visual effect that seldom to be seen in other locally produced movies.

Definitely a rare gem & must watch in cinema this year.

I always say Malaysia has no short supply of talented storytellers. I'm so glad to have finally witnessed We Jun's feature debut. This a fantastic and well-made film, probably one of the few Malaysian films displaying a very authentic slice of Malaysian life.

Interestingly, this is a Chinese language film which is NOT released during the typical Chinese New Year season. It's very clear to see this is a very personal film, of complex family relationships while exploring the not-oft talk about cultural elements of the Hungry Ghost Festival. I had laughs and tears all throughout this film and was absolutely invested in Bonnie's journey in figuring out the madness of her circumstances.

Props to Yoke who appears in every scene with so much presence, you don't sense a single false note from her first lead role performance. The supporting acts are perfectly cast and especially a joy to watch is Eric Chen who plays the father. The quiet and stoic father I think most of us will recognise in our lives.

I also liked the choice of the lighting and slower frame rate ala Wong Kar Wai during certain scenes in the ghost world. Tan Teck Zee, who is one of Malaysia's leading cinematographers, works his magic here.

This independent film is sorely needed in our Malaysian film landscape. It's not your typical Hollywood film which follows a formulaic view of a hero and high stakes. There are some minor pacing and tonal issues but We Jun navigates us confidently in this intimate film of family, filial piety, loss and redemption with so much charm, humour, and heart. I especially appreciate his choice to show a beautiful aspect of Malaysian life, with our code-switching in spoken languages from Cantonese to Hakka to Malay to broken English that we hear every day.

We need more films telling more stories from our very many ethnic groups in Malaysia, sharing our rich culture. This film is one for the ages in our Malaysian film archives.

Jarring tonal inconsistencies, excruciatingly slow pacing, uninspired thematic execution, one-dimensional characters, paper-thin character dynamics, painfully awkward dialogue, embarrassingly flat attempts of humour, weirdly-placed score and soundtracks, with a plot as hollow as vacuum, this is without a doubt the biggest disappointment I have had this year. It hit a new low for the worst film I have seen this year.

There are good ideas. The foundation is there. I can see some vision from the director. But the execution completely fumbled the bag. From the disjointed story structure to plot threads that crashed and burned, this was woefully misguided and ill-constructed.

Honestly, this was painful to sit through. I have never been so irritated by a movie before. I was literally fighting the urge to walk out of the screening.

This movie may take awhile to understand the culture especially if you were not brought up with the chinese/hakka culture, or if your family is just not that chinese. Anyhow, no harm in learning more about your culture or other people's culture!

There was humor, a little spooky(of course), and if you've lost and missing a departed relative/loved one, some tears. A great movie to watch with friends and family. It's one of those movies that could potentially start a discussion about culture, maybe a deeper sharing about a passed away loved one, or ghost stories! Which are the best because for the amount of time we spend watching movies if it doesn't build a bond between each other, then we might need to reconsider a new activity with our friends/family!

I had to bother to create an account to give my review of this terribly produced movie. There were only four of us at the Saturday afternoon seating in the cinema, which says a lot.

The movie was so melodramatic that I literally dozed off at some point. The movie was not scary, not funny and had a really poor storyline. Basically, it just depicted the late family members returning to the house during the 7th month. The open ending seems slated for another season of Hungry Ghost Diner 2 (really gutsy).

I would not have rated even one star but had to in order to review it. I demand my two hours of my life back.