- Director : Tony Leung Ka Fei
- Actors : Tony Leung Ka Fei, Deng Chao, Eddie Peng, Vision Wei, Joyce Cheng
- MPAA rating : NR (Not Rated)
- Media Format : Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen
- Run time : 1 hour and 43 minutes
- Release date : August 17, 2021
- Studio : Well Go Usa
Midnight Diner opens with voiceover letting us
know that there are midnight diners in many cities. Anyone familiar with the
original manga series the film is based on should be aware of this fact, as
there are versions of film and TV adaptations available in Japan, Korea, and China.
This latest film adaptation takes place in Shanghai, though the premise remains
much the same as it has in every adaptation of Yarō Abe’s internationally
popular series. The narrative is highly adaptable because of the episodic structure.
While the format allows includes a diner open from midnight to morning, the
vignettes are made up in the variety of patrons.
At the center of
each narrative is the chef and owner of the midnight diner, known only as uncle
(Tony Ka Fai Leung). At the same time, although he is always present in the
drama of his customers, the chef is also detached from the storylines. The result
is that he is more of the narrator in telling the stories of individual
customers rather than being involved in them himself. In the end, we know much
more about the characters in each individual vignette than we do about the man
who connects them all together.
Among these stories/customers
are a collection of different tones. When a struggling boxer (Tony Yang) making
a love connection with a nurse (Liu Tao) after his alcohol loving mother (Elaine
Jin) begins to interfere, it is mostly comedic and lighthearted, while the
romantic drama between two young lovers (Vision Wei and Zhang Yishang)
struggling to accomplish dreams while remaining together has a bit more weight
to it. There is also a pair of lovers impacted by a terminal disease, a perfume
expert with a chance to reunite with an unrequited love, and a beat cop struggling
with anger issues.
Though the
stories sometimes overlap with each other, and characters from individual
sequences find their way into the other vignettes, the movie is mostly
episodic. One can imagine how much easier it would be to adapt this into a TV
series, because there is resolution to individual sections without a concrete
ending. The implication is that the chef will continue to cook at the midnight
diner, and as long as he does there will be customers with stories to tell. As
a standalone film, it there is a lot to take away from this feel-good narrative,
even if the format may not be the best choice for this specific material.
There is a heavy
emphasis on the visual presentation of the food that the chef makes early on in the film, and the
photography plays a large part in this. As a result, the meals look even better
on high-definition Blu-ray. Unfortunately, as the film continues, attention
shifts more towards the characters than what they are eating, and this is less
important. The greatest visual asset in the second half of the film are the
nighttime views of Shanghai’s skyline, and fortunately they come into play in
several of the storylines, even if it means leaving the diner for large portions.
Other than the
high-definition presentation, there is nothing extra to be found on the
Blu-ray. There aren’t special features or additional copies of the movie.
Entertainment Value:
6.5/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 7/10
Historical
Significance: 5/10
Special Features: 0/10
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