Midnight Diner Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.0

Midnight Diner Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 14, 2021

Some audience members watching Midnight Diner might understandably come away from their viewing experience thinking something along the lines of "this seems like the setup for a television series", and in fact they'd be right, and more than once, if that's a possibility in terms of correctness. Midnight Diner has been a sensation in the manga world as Shin'ya Shokudō for well over a decade, and the manga in turn has given birth to (different) television series in Japan, Korea and China. The reason Midnight Diner seems tailor made for television is that its conceit offers a kind of quasi-portmanteau structure that might be compared at least in some ways to shows like The Love Boat or perhaps especially Fantasy Island where various "guest stars" arrive at a recurring locale and then their personal stories play out there. In this case, customers wander into the titular food emporium, and under the watchful eye of the chef, known only as Chef, Master or occasionally Uncle (Tony Ka Fai Leung), various vignettes involving those customers then take center stage.

If from a structural standpoint Midnight Diner is at least slightly reminiscent of those two hoary shows linked to above, in another way the film is somewhat like Cheers, in that the Midnight Diner is a local gathering place where everyone (or at least Uncle) knows your name. There are also "regular customers" there who serve as the film's version of Norm, Cliff and the rest of Sam's bar's crew. While the film does "dart off" into a number of vignettes involving various passers by who drop into the Midnight Diner, there are recurrent interstitial bits involving a trio of younger social media types eager to snap pics of their food and an older gentleman by the name of Zhong (Stanley Sui-Fan Fung) who kind of jokingly disparages them.

Kind of interestingly, Tony Ka Fai Leung is on hand not just as the star but also as the director (in his debut in that particular department), and due to either the vagaries of the screenplay or Leung's own preferences, the film has a rather episodic feel, with even the supposed "linking" material really not providing much other than occasional interruptions into otherwise developing stories. The vignettes themselves are a mixed bag, as might be expected, and run the gamut from slightly comic to unabashed, tear jerking tragedy (or at least the cinematic version thereof). There's a would be boxer (Tony Yo-ning Yang) dealing with a budding romance (with a woman with a disabled daughter, just to make things really emotional) that has raised the hackles of his hard drinking mother (Elaine Jin), or a perfume specialist with an extremely sensitive sense of smell who is struggling to get in shape to meet a longtime crush, or two star-crossed musician would be romantic partners who find themselves in a Love Story (in more ways than one), or another couple facing issues in their relationship that perhaps only a good bowl of noodles can solve.

There's nothing very problematic about any of this, but there's also nothing especially interesting, either, and in fact the result is something that definitely feels like a "very special episode" of some long running television series. A few attempts to inject some of the chef's own personal story at least give a little context for this mysterious character who seems intuitively able to divine what the "perfect food" for any given customer might be, but even that aspect ends up feeling like more of a detour and/or an interruption than an organic development. Fans of any of the television versions may well want to check this out, but even they may be hungry for something a bit more substantial after it's over.

Midnight Diner Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Midnight Diner is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. I haven't been able to track down any authoritative information on the shoot, and despite a plethora of logos during the closing credits, I didn't spot anything listing any cameras, though this is obviously digitally captured and I'm assuming had a 2K DI. The presentation here is completely competent and generally well detailed, but it's never mind blowing, perhaps due at least in part to the kind of hardscrabble environment of the diner itself, which doesn't exactly look like a Michelin Star eatery. That said, fine detail levels are often quite impressive on things like fabrics, or even the scar the chef has (which is fitfully explained in a brief flashback). The palette is generally natural looking, though there are occasional moments where things are either lit or graded toward blues or yellows, and there are some iffy CGI moments including a flashback to a snowy day. Leung and cinematographer Chor Keung Chan exploit a number of stylistic quirks, including use of fisheye lenses and the like, but detail levels remain surprisingly consistent throughout despite these artifices.

Midnight Diner Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Midnight Diner features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track in the original Mandarin. There's really not a ton to the sound design of this film, which alternates between some voiceover by the chef and actual dialogue in either the restaurant scenes or the vignettes that develop from them. As such, the film is pretty resolutely talky, and the real immersive capabilities are only exploited in passing, as in some of the visceral boxing scenes involving the first group of characters dropping by the restaurant. All spoken material is delivered cleanly and clearly, with no problems whatsoever. Optional English and Chinese (as they're listed in the Setup Menu) subtitles are available.

Midnight Diner Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (HD; 1:46)

Note: As tends to be the case with Well Go USA Blu-ray releases, the the disc has been authored to automatically move on to trailers for other Well Go USA releases after the trailer for this film plays. Those trailers for other Well Go USA releases also play automatically at disc boot up.

Midnight Diner Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Midnight Diner has been a staple of the Asian diet (sorry) for years in a number of different forms (and nations, actually), and my hunch is this feature film will probably resonate best with those who have a history with the franchise in one way or the other. Midnight Diner may also appeal to those wanting to check out Tony Ka Fai Leung's directorial acumen, as well as for a chance to see the star in what might be termed a "kinder, gentler" characterization. This is reasonably engaging and occasionally kind of heartwarming and/or slyly humorous, but it never really rises much above what some may call "typical television" levels. The cast is quite good, though they're often saddled with some pretty melodramatic and/or silly material. Technical merits are generally solid for those who are considering making a purchase.