Midnight Diner

2014 1h 59m JA

🙌

7.7

BANGER

★7.7TMDB · 68

Drama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A restaurant opens at midnight. Both the menu offerings and personality of the owner draw a series of flawed patrons including Tamako, whose boyfriend has passed away, live-in worker Michiru, and ruckus-raising Kenzo.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

WhatsApp X Facebook Telegram

Cast

Kaoru Kobayashi
Master
Saki Takaoka
Tamako Kawashima
Mikako Tabe
Michiru Kuriyama
Michitaka Tsutsui
Kenzo Oishi
Tokio Emoto
Hajime Nishida
Kimiko Yo
Chieko Hanawa
Akiko Kikuchi
Akemi Sugita
Yuko Tanaka
Machiko Tsukaguchi

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Jōji Matsuoka
Writers: Jōji Matsuoka, Kensaku Kojima, Katsuhiko Manabe
Languages: Japanese
Countries: Japan

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

ERA

Did you know

Released 12 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Midnight Diner Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Fukuhara Kimie. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Shinichi Fushima shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Kaoru Kobayashi and Saki Takaoka and Mikako Tabe carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt3958276 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

Only 68 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Jōji Matsuoka directs. Fukuhara Kimie scores. Shinichi Fushima cuts. Produced in Japan. Dialogue in Japanese.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 12 years ago.
2Part of the "Midnight Diner Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
3Original score by Fukuhara Kimie. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor Shinichi Fushima shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Kaoru Kobayashi and Saki Takaoka and Mikako Tabe carry the top of the cast.
6IMDB entry: tt3958276 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
7Only 68 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
8Classified under 12 themes, including "cooking", "restaurant", "diner", "unrequited love".

The technical file

Original score: Fukuhara Kimie
Editing: Shinichi Fushima
Production design: Mitsuo Harada
Makeup / hair: Kyoko Toyokawa
Sound: Naoko Asari
Runtime: 119 min · 1h 59m
Status: Released
Box office: $1,507,352
Original language: JA
IMDB: Midnight Diner (2014)

Part of

Midnight Diner Collection

Also by

Jōji Matsuoka

Community reviews

What people are saying

Reno2016-04-14
★ 8/10
In the dark hours where everything's so alive. 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 likeable 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

Production companies