As a sequel to the film, it is rare that the score of the second film is higher than that of the first film. It reflects everyone's love for this film.
Starring is still Kobayashi Kaoru.
A mature and healing uncle who satisfies all women's fantasies, it seems that every dish under his command can heal all broken hearts.
The film begins with three stories about pain and love in life.
Story 1
Barbecue package
In the first story, almost all the guests who came to the midnight food store were dressed in black, because they had just attended the funeral and had come to eat snacks before changing clothes.
But only one woman is different. She was in mourning, too, but she didn't attend the funeral.
But just because of the pressure of work, in order to change my mood, I changed my clothes and came out to have a barbecue set meal with my boss.
She proved what "going to work is like going to the grave" with her actions.
She was an editor, and her work was not smooth, so she was removed from her post as an editor.
Give the manuscript to the teacher and witness the teacher die in writing because of overwork.
It can be said that we are experiencing the most "mourning" period in our lives.
It's good to know Ishida. He also came to the funeral.
Ishida, who is good at picking up girls, soon cured her, and the two of them quickly sparked a small spark of love. Since then, she has never worn mourning clothes.
Is it cured? Romantic? Happiness?
Unfortunately, she was cheated.
Suddenly one day, the police came to her door with a photo, pointed to Ishida in the photo and said that the man in the photo stole things at funerals and always pursued women at the funeral scene.
Frustrated in the workplace, love is equally frustrated. She put on mourning clothes and indulged herself. She was almost cheated by love rat on the roadside.
But all lovelorn people are making way for true love. She finally took off her mourning clothes and found true love.
It turns out that true love is to support you to do what you like.
Story 2
Soba noodles.
This is a story about a mother and a son crossing the generation gap.
The owner of buckwheat noodle shop raised his 25-year-old son alone, and because he loved his dead husband very much, he grafted all his feelings on his son.
But the son who is eager for independence and growth does not recognize the concept that his mother can't let go of anything.
I even want to prove my independence by marrying my girlfriend who is 15 years older than myself.
Because of the age gap, I was strongly opposed by my mother.
Coincidentally, my mother met a new drinking girl at midnight food store, but she didn't know that this girl was actually her son's girlfriend.
After listening to the girl's criticism that her mother-in-law doesn't agree with her marriage partner, she just said:
What a useless mother! I don't even know you, so I jumped to conclusions.
Coincidentally, one day, three people met at the midnight food store.
The mother also jokingly introduced her son to a drinking friend and praised her as a good girl, which was embarrassing.
When the mother knew the truth, she was directly scared and instantly forced.
Although the mother kept saying no, she always recognized her son's growth in her heart.
When she came to the midnight food store for dinner, the boss gave her a bowl of bad buckwheat noodles. In fact, this bowl of noodles was stolen by her son after he decided to inherit the buckwheat noodles at home.
My son hopes to revive the store one day and let his mother relax early.
Mom said it was terrible, and shed tears of happiness at the same time, munching soba noodles.
The son and girlfriend finally got up the courage to walk side by side.
Story 3
Pork soup set.
The last story is about a mother's pursuit of her son and her confession of her own experience.
Last year, an old woman received a fraudulent phone call saying that her son in Tokyo needed 2 million yen.
So grandma came all the way to send money to the liar. It was too late to deliver the money, and she couldn't go home.
After listening to her experience, the kind driver thought that grandma had met a liar and sent her to the police station. Enthusiastic police took grandma to a snack bar to have a snack.
The girl who also had the experience of being taken in the canteen decided to let the grandmother stay for the time being. During this period, the two established a deep emotional foundation.
Give grandma her own pajamas, her own wine and let her sleep in her own bed.
But whenever it comes to grandma's son's problems, she keeps silent, and even makes the girl suspect that grandma may be senile.
I didn't tell the truth until my grandmother's brother came to Tokyo.
It turns out that when I was young, my grandmother abandoned her family and eloped with San Xiao. Now, before looking for my son's memories, I want to repent for my young irresponsibility.
At the end of the film, in order to satisfy grandma's wish, the police teamed up to help grandma perform a scene.
The police knocked on grandma's son's door in the name of asking for directions, and grandma was sitting in a car not far away.
Looking at the life of my son's family of three quietly, I left tears of happiness.
Midnight food store is not so much a restaurant to eat as a chicken soup restaurant to taste life.
We have witnessed the ups and downs of the story, and I wonder how many bittersweet stories will happen here tomorrow.
Although food is the guide, there are not many detailed descriptions of food in the film.
What the director wants to convey to the audience is the taste of life rather than the taste of food.
After careful study, you will find that every kind of life, every bumpy road, is like a five-flavor meal, each with its own unique flavor, and the three stories in the movie also express their views with food respectively.
Barbecue set meal, buckwheat noodles and pork soup set meal, each food is a metaphor of a story, which touches your taste buds and stimulates your nerves at the same time.
It can be seen that the midnight food store has no fixed recipes and cuisines.
Rather than what to eat, everyone cares more about taking this place as a foothold and sharing life with homeless people.
So the human touch shown in the film is very heavy.
The mourning woman finally found true love and re-trusted her feelings; The persistence and understanding of love between the son who is eager for independence and his girlfriend who is 15 years old; The old mother's frivolous regrets about the past. Everyone has someone else's help on the road to redemption. The last companion in mourning encouraged her; A policeman who pretends to ask for directions, but actually gives mothers a chance to see their sons, so that little girls can go from being taken in to taking in others.
Layers of love and tolerance warm everyone in the midnight food store. Night arrival, the dark night quietly fell asleep, as if it had become a utopia of the new world.
They are lonely souls in the middle of the night in the city, you, me, him and an ordinary person around us.
There is a small clue that runs through the whole movie.
An old man who often comes here has the habit of recording what he ate in the evening every time, because he feels that there is not much time left for himself without eating a meal.
But in the end, he closed the book and stopped recording because he said-
What matters is not what you eat, but who you eat with.
This is the most straightforward translation of life:
More important is who you are with, not how you live.