As announced and detailed in a previous post in this blog, a week-long Japanese filmfest is currently taking place in Ayala Center Cebu as of the time this post is written and posted. Today is Thursday, August 4, and the festival was opened on Tuesday, August 2.
Despite the large crowd and uber long line of people piling for the show, we still managed to get a seat for my friend, boyfriend and myself. It was not in our most preferred spots though. Well, better than nothing.
After a short program to formally open the celebration highlighted by the free film showing of award-winning Japanese flicks, the first show was set to roll.
Entitled The Chef of South Polar, it was actually about a group of 8 men from different walks in life who had to spend a year or so together somewhere in the Antarctica. It was a team sent and sponsored by the Japanese government to do some research. Making up the team were eight different personalities with different background in different fields. Although most part of the film was told by the chef, it actually tackles each individual’s issues, problems and way of thinking as the film progresses.
The chef was a father of two who previously worked as a cook for the Japanese army. When his superior was unable to take on the mission to go to Antarctic to be the team’s chef, the responsibility fell on him, despite his lack of desire for the position. Although it was shown in the film that his wife and kids do not think much of him, he missed them a lot as shown in how he kept his daughter’s tooth which fell out before he left for the mission. This is in a small container that served as a locket of some sort.
Moto-San is the head of the main research program being done during the mission. He loves what he does and is serious about it. He celebrated his 45th birthday on the camp, and everyone had a good time with food, drinks and a lot of merrymaking. In a phone call he made home that day, his little girl sang a birthday song on the line, but his wife refused to talk with him. He shared with the chef later that day that his wife does not like his job and had been constantly threatening to fire a divorce every time he is set to go away for work.
Another member of the team is the doctor. Not a lot was tackled about his past. However, he constantly exercises out in the snow even during the part of the year when the sun does not shine. This, he said, kept him strong enough to win a triathlon, which he planned to, and did, join after getting back to Japan.
Another interesting characteris Hiro-San, a ramen-addict who could not sleep after not being fed with ramen, which the team ran out of after late-night attacks on the said noodle by two other team members. This became an inspiration for the rest of the gang to come up with an idea to make ramen, and the chef was able to successfully do so. Happy was an understatement for Hiro-San’s feelings when served with ramen soup later on.
There was the Chief, a mechanic who was in-charge with all the motor-operated vehicles needed by the team. Not happy about the assignment, he spends his day reading manga inside a vehicle in the middle of the snow. There was a time when he pretended to be sick, which made another team member really angry.
When he went to find the Chief, he chanced upon him taking a long and luxurious bath, which involved putting a lot of water to waste. Mad at the guy, he run after him with a desire to beat everything out of him.
At that time, the chef just caught another member of the team munching on butter. he was taking it away from him and trying to find a place to hide when he caught up with the Chief in his wet briefs and hair with unrinsed shampoo.
Lastly, there is the youngest member of the team. Deeply in-love with a girlfriend left in Japan, he is seen always on the phone talking with her during the first parts of the film. When the girl started to get cold and eventually owned up to seeing someone new, he proceeded to talk with the phone operator, with whom he met when he got back to Japan.
These eight people made an impact on each other’s existence. They were able to develop flexibility as well as they try to accommodate each other’s presence and different personalities. The film shows how good food can mend anything from a frosted hand to a broken heart. It shows the human nature of people, which is kind and encompassing especially when confronted with something from nature. The entire film is a fun thing to watch. It was mouth-watering as well since the chef ended up preparing a lot of gastric delights at different parts of the film. I was a hungry girl when the film ended.
Probably the best thing about the movie is how it emphasizes the many essentials in life. Food. Family. Friends. People. Because we are social animals after all.
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