Editor's Note: If you "don't want to sleep" or "can't sleep," read on.
There may be a literary film here, and there may be a horror film here. I don't know if you'll fall asleep or if you'll be scared even more out of bed.
When "The Last Recipe ~ Memories of Kirin's Tongue" was released, Arashi's fans were celebrating, and their idols not only topped the record sales charts and dominated the TV screen, but also starred in movies that continued to dominate mainstream theaters - watching Tomomo Ohno's "Ninja Country" in July, relaxing Honrun's "Love, Involuntarily" trailer; watching "Love, Involuntarily", putting Onomiya's "Last Recipe" trailer in October; watching "The Last Recipe" starring Sho Sakurai and will be released during next year's Golden Week. The pilot film for Laplace's Witch has landed on the big screen.
As an idol, Arashi is still at the peak of her popularity, and tickets for the Japan's Five Domes tour at the end of the year were sold for 50,000 to 80,000 yen a year. Kazuya Ninomiya, who has finalized the host of the Red and White Song Festival at the end of the year, is the second time that members of Sagaba Masaki Gora have hosted it alone last year.
Ninomiya, who was mentioned by Clint Eastwood, Satoshi Kuramoto, Yoji Yamada, and others, has a high starting point as an actor that is difficult for others to match. In "The Last Recipe ~ Memories of the Tongue of the Kirin", Ninomiya's collaboration with Oscar-winning best foreign language film director Yojiro Takita ("Entering the Mortician Division") naturally became the focus of Toho's promotion in November.
Popular originals, big directors, and Arashi members, these three elements have become the life-saving straw for the producers - at least the fans pay the bottom line. "Nowadays, Japanese movies can only play this boring safety card" has been criticized countless times, and the cover feature of the "Movie Shunbao" recommends "The Last Recipe", and does not hesitate to hold the grievances of Arashi's members: "They have received complete entertainment industry training and can deliver answers that meet expectations for any subject, and they deserve these resources." ”
The same magazine's film review column gave a spicy evaluation: "The body is the actor's capital." Kazumi Ninomiya also walks in this film like an old showa criminal policeman, and he positions himself as Hideharu Otaki and Taiji Terayama (a personality actor who is famous for playing supporting roles), but Ayano Tsuyoshi, who also plays the cook, is obviously more convincing in holding up a Chinese wok to reveal his biceps. Ninomiya, go to the gym. ”
In a state of not knowing the story of the original work, I went to see "The Last Recipe ~ The Memory of the Tongue of the Kirin" with the imagination of "Kazuya Ninomiya" and the result was unexpected.
"Absolute Taste" chef Mitsuru Sasaki (played by Kazuya Ninomiya) is commissioned by a Chinese to solve the mystery of another chef in the pseudo-"Manchukuo" in the 20th century who has an absolute sense of taste, Nataro Yamayuki (Hidetoshi Nishijima). Rather than being starred by Kazuya Ninomiya, it is rather Hidetoshi Nishijima – the story of northeast China that occupies 80% of the space, and the puzzle solver Misaki Sasaki does not appear, but only plays the role of threading the needle. As for the character of Aoi Miyazaki, she is also a Japanese wife who is overkill. Although the final film settles on "family love", the whole film is forcibly sublimated and ends with a reunion, which does not alleviate - or even aggravate the sense of fabrication of the script.
In contrast, the TV series "The Emperor's Imperial Kitchen", which is based on the real character Akiyama Tokuzo, although it has some exaggerated elements, is a relatively pure "little boss" cultivation story. And "The Last Recipe" is also under the banner of "the emperor's cook", the plot is completely from fiction, and the theme is also deviated from food.
Why did director Yojiro Takita, who bore the aura of an Oscar and a Japanese academy award, choose to adapt this work? After reading the interview, I learned that director Takita's father had lived in northeast China, and his mother's family had also been to the northeast. Part of the film was filmed in Harbin, with the elderly and youth version of the Chinese chef "Yang Qingming" appearing as the main characters. Kanmatsu Wakasato, who played the youth version of "Yang Qingming", was "absolutely praised" by the director - but in Chinese's ears, the pretentious Chinese-style Japanese was reminiscent of "Shanghai Auntie" Junko Takahata in "Naomi and Kanako", in addition to being funny, there was also a stereotype of Chinese, enthusiastic, shrewd, self-satisfied, and grinning.
The sense of discord is even stronger in the film, the "Great Japanese Empire Cuisine Full Table" developed by the Japanese army-appointed team of cooks, with the theme of "Five Ethnic Concord", with the goal of surpassing the "Manchu Han Full Table" that represents the fusion of Manchu and Han culture and contains 108 dishes, and finally preparing to create 112 dishes, which was temporarily disclosed by the Emperor. The "five ethnic concords" advocated by the Japanese militarists refer to The Japanese, Han, Manchu, Mongolian, and Korean Dynasties — and Naotaro Yamayuki, who was fooled or brainwashed by this, took this slogan seriously and buried his head all day to create, but the work really could not arouse people's appetite.
One of the dishes of the "Imperial Japanese Cuisine Full Table": "Five Ethnic Concord Dumpling Tree"
The "Manchurian View" in "The Last Recipe" may surprise Chinese audiences. Describing the ideal of the so-called "five-clan concord", Yamagata Naotaro's eyes are sincere, and he believes in the empire's gimmicks that have won the hearts of the people, and this belief is reflected in his gorgeous and strange recipes. In the film, Yang Qingming, the Chinese chef who laid his hands on him, shows a slight disdain for Yamagata's illusion, "In the end, the Five Ethnic Groups Concord is still the Japanese first, and the Han are the last", this time questioning the noble and awe-inspiring actions of Yamagata Naotaro who refused to participate in the military's conspiracy to destroy national harmony and sacrificed himself to protect the recipe and assistant Xiao Yang. Until the end, the film did not puncture this vain "Manchurian view", but only established the image of a dedicated cook, extremely circuitous through the root of the puzzle, weaving a clichéd family warmth story that makes people shake their heads and sigh "here again".
The sponsors are very good at borrowing the topic of the movie, Nissin edible oil opened a limited restaurant, providing Russian borscht (did not appear in the film, just show the "world view" of the movie); 7-11 convenience store launched three joint products, "Ninomiya Kazuya Omelette Rice", "Ayano Tsuyoshi Chinese Fried Rice", "Nishijima Hidetoshi Pork Chop Sandwich", with a movie poster pattern folder.
"The Last Recipe" is a cooperative product with a 7-11 convenience store
Buy a "sandwich full of the protagonist's memories" to taste, the taste is the same as the impression of the movie - not to say that it is not delicious, but you can not expect it too much because of the sky-high depiction in the movie, after all, it is just a convenience store product, corresponding to its price. As for "The Last Recipe ~ The Memory of the Tongue of the Unicorn", the tear points created at the right time, the theme of forcible sublimation, food, suspense, and family affection elements are snared at once, I saw the duty of a commercial film, but some artificial additives have too much taste.