Midnight Diner

The wonderful thing about Netflix is we can travel the world in our armchairs. This is beautiful ,sensitive insite into Japanese culture. Addicted . Moving. Warm.

The list of successful TV shows that choose to say goodbye with a final, full-length, movie is too long to include in this review. This is the goodby performance for the hit Japanese series MIDNIGHT DINER. MD was a pretty amazing show with a unique dramatic structure. A gentle and empathetic man known as Master runs a diner that opens at midnight and closes at dawn. It has a limited menu but in fact he will try to create any dish you could possibly ask for. The "regulars" are the equivalent of the "Greek Chorus" from the earlest development of dramatic arcs, the dinner is more a midnight church than a place to eat, and the food merely accentuates the stories of spiritual growth. (Recipes at the end each episode, not so in the movie.) Here the two hour run times does not work especially well for the older narrative structure and the 3 or 4 stores lack the impact of the best of the series. The food looks great, as usual. ((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present))

This is a nice little feel-good movie with the typical japanese charm. No big story, just everyday life, everyday people, authentic dialogues and yet it has a certain profundity to it.

NOT FOR EVERYONE

FOR ME I LOVE IT

It is about a restaurateur who only opens from midnight to 7:00 am, hence the name, the Midnight Diner. During these late night hours, numerous odd but charismatic characters come in with their problems.

Based on the manga series of the same name. A movie about a chef, foods and his small restaurant that opens at midnight till the dawn. There are random scenes with fresh characters all along, but it also centres on a set of few particular characters to stabilise the development. Whatsoever the tale sticks around the restaurant and reveals every happenings, no matter what characters they are.

A very fun, realistic, calm narration, with cool characters. Anyone slurping their food around me really annoys, but that's the way of pleasurably consuming food among the east Asians, especially that makes me my mouth-watering. So I suggest you better have some snacks with, at least you will have something with you while watching this delicious movie.

Initially I did not know whose story it was, but a chef began to narrate his story by telling about his tiny restaurant located somewhere in the middle of partially both residential and commercial areas. And his unique customers with their stories that definitely gets our attention. In the meantime a young female character was introduced who is going to be a prime focus for the rest of the film that told alternately with other small happenings around.

"Don't let your tears enter the stew pot. Tears is salt after all. It will change the taste."

I'm not sure whether it was the great performances or the writing and direction that brought a soul to it, but overall it was so simple and very likable film that looks like kind of everything worked so finely. Of course the cultural influence was a big impact. The society, its people with their state of mind and lifestyle - totally moving. Other than the whaling, I don't see the reasons to I hate this beautiful country and its people. I think that's why I loved this film like usual and it is one of my favourite film industry.

Impressive, how the customers respect their chef by calling him master. I have seen the actor who played that important role in the movie 'Quill'. He was excellent in this with his casual effort. There's no way to predict anything from the movie. It would be like you go and sit in a small restaurant near you for a whole day, interacting with every customer who gets in with their story of the day with all kinds of moods, that's how watching this film feels like with surprises.

Those who read the original manga and those who saw the television series might have reason to compare with this to bring some positive and negative points, but as I'm not familiar with other material, I ended with very happy for this.

The runtime really scared me, but once sat for it, I spent those two hours without any trouble. This kind of storytelling really suits for television to split into plenty of episodes, but the movie was equally amazing and can be compared to any top movies related to 'food, chef and restaurant' themes. This was a great drama with fine humours. I want to suggest it and I surely do, especially for those who love drama films with a moderate pace.

8/10