As dusk falls, and most people are heading home for the evening, the day is just beginning for Master (Tony Leung Ka-Fai), the chef/owner of the Midnight Diner in Shanghai. It is a small counter-only restaurant that is only open from midnight to 7am. There is no fixed menu at this diner, instead the enigmatic chef will make his patrons anything they want to eat. However, he has a knack for observing his customers, and guessing exactly what it is that they desire. Over the years many customers have come and gone, but Master is always ready to hear the life stories of diners new and old, feeding them dishes that remind them of the best times from their journey through life.

Midnight Diner isn’t really your typical movie that follows one central plot or storyline. Instead, it is an anthology of interconnected tales of the various patrons whose lives have been touched by the diner. As the film opens, three young professionals have found their way to Midnight Diner for the first time. These twenty-somethings are overwhelmed by the long hours they work in advertising, but are pleasantly surprised by atmosphere and food at the restaurant. It isn’t long before they are trading barbs with longtime patron Mr Zhong (Stanley Sui-Fan Fung), who enjoys getting in a few zingers at the youngsters. The butt of many of the jokes is Qiu Fan (Liang Jingkang), who is treated more like a brother by his two female friends, who joke about his lack of masculinity. Other regulars at the diner include fishmonger Lian (Elaine Jin) and her 30-year-old son Kai Yuan (Tony Yo-ning Yang), an aspiring boxer. Much to her son’s annoyance, Lian often ends up leaving the diner drunk, causing her son to (affectionately) refer to her as an old hag. Nurse/single mother Ming Yue (Tao Liu) lives nearby and often passes by the diner when pushing her daughter Duoduo in her wheelchair. Kai Yuan has a crush on Ming Yue, but is too scared to ask her out. Xiao Mei (Joyce Cheng) is a young woman who works for a perfume company, who was led to the diner by her honed sense of smell. She is currently trying to lose weight before a chance reunion with her high school crush, Tai (Charles ‘Blackie’ Chen). She quickly befriends the trio of young advertising professionals, who give her their encouragement and support.

In order to explore the backstories of the of the regular patrons of the Midnight Diner, the film often makes use of flashbacks, showing how these characters first came to find the diner or each other. In one story, we see how Kai Yuan first got involved with boxing thanks to his childhood best friend Wang Hu (Kim Scar), and in another, we learn how the hot-tempered Long (Li Zhang) became Master’s “brother” and how that temper got him into trouble. The film also flashes back to Master’s very first patron, Xiao Xue (Junyan Jiao), an aspiring singer who has a chance meeting with another musician, Xin (Chao Deng), thanks to the diner. While the first two thirds of the film tell a lot of shorter interwoven tales, but the final act of the movie follows a single, longer love story. Aspiring model Si Si (Yishang Zhang) and her taxi driver boyfriend Tang Song (Vision Wei) both came to big city from the more rural Hunan province. While Si Si sees excitement and opportunity in Shanghai, Tang Song is eager to move back home to the slower pace, and this causes some friction in their relationship.

Over the years there have been many TV and film adaptations of the original Shin’ya Shokudō manga, but this 2019 Chinese film adaptation was my first experience with this Midnight Diner franchise. I found the film to be quite delightful. In the first act of the film, I really enjoyed the way the stories are interconnected and weave into one another. We slowly learn about the lives of the regular patrons and see how they connect to one another. In the second act of the film, we start to get more somewhat standalone stories of some past and present patrons. Their connection to the diner regulars we’ve gotten to know is a bit limited in nature. And in the final act, it is very much a stand-alone love story that doesn’t connect at all to our original main characters, except in the general theme of finding connections and love. With each act, the film also seems to branch more and more to the world outside of the diner. But in the end the film tries to tie all of these stories together (some more successfully than others) with a beautiful montage that is both inspiring and uplifting.

Midnight Diner is part drama, part romantic comedy, but always delightful. The film does an excellent job of quickly establishing this unique world inside the diner, with a welcoming atmosphere that makes you wish you were right there sitting at the counter enjoying the company, sharing stories, and eating a delicious meal. Throughout the film, Master provides this soothing and charming and narration, which reminded me of the one in Amélie. He describes the patrons, their stories, and this fantastical world inside the diner. Master can also be seen preparing each of his delectable meals in great detail. The sizzling shots of this food made me quite hungry—all of it looked so delicious! It was like watching a cooking show, but set to a soothing and whimsical score. At times the film looked and felt more like a soap opera or a TV series like Fantasy Island or The Love Boat, but I didn’t mind as I just wanted to be transported into this world and was invested in the stories and lives of the patrons.

Well Go’s Blu-ray release is pretty barebones, with no bonus material except for the film’s trailer as well as previews for some other Well Go releases. The film’s presentation looks amazing, with an incredibly clean and detailed picture. The colors really pop—this is a beautiful looking film! The shots of the sizzling woks as Master prepared the food made me want to reach right into the screen. The film features a delightful and uplifting score that sounds great, and the narration and dialogue remains clear throughout. The track also makes nice use of the surround sound to add the ambiance of the diner, and in one scene when Master is outside on a snowy day, you can really hear the chilling breeze all around you. The film does not offer an English dub track, just two versions of the original Mandarin soundtrack, but the subtitles are well-written and easy to understand.

What’s Included:

Film: (1:42:46)

Blu-ray:
• 1080p / Widescreen 2.39:1
• Audio: Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Mandarin Stereo
• Subtitles: English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese

Extras:
All trailers/previews play back-to-back once one is selected.

• Trailer (1:46)
• Previews
  • The Paper Tigers (2:30)
  • The Great War of Archimedes (1:42)
  • Cosmoball (1:59)

Final Thoughts:

Midnight Diner is not your typical film, following one storyline from beginning to end. Instead, it is an uplifting, feel-good anthology of short stories, some interweaving and some standalone, that transport the viewer into this delightful and magical diner. The atmosphere is filled with quirky but supportive characters, each of whom have an interesting life story to tell. Well Go’s Blu-ray release looks stunning and sounds excellent. Unfortunately it doesn’t include any bonus material or a digital copy. The film has a lot of humor and heart, and is definitely worth checking out for fans of romantic comedies, and classic shows like The Love Boat. After watching this, I am eager to check out some of the other TV and film adaptations of the original Japanese manga.