Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

Jenna Walter The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Matylda Swan It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

arabbigwet It reminds me of the good old days i had with my college bros.

KFL "Tanshin funin" is variously translated as "being posted overseas without one's family" or "short-term unaccompanied transfer", but in any case is an important aspect of Japanese society. It is often regarded as something to be endured for the sake of one's career.This movie, then, depicts the ultimate "tanshin funin" experience: being posted for more than a year at a research station in Antarctica, at very high elevation, so that there is absolutely nothing of interest in the area. Options for communication are limited as well; phone calls back to Japan are a pricey 740 yen (over US$6.00) per minute. They don't appear to have the bandwidth needed for Skype....So these eight middle-aged men, sentenced to live together in the midst of endless ice and snow and not much else, have to make their own fun. Which they manage in various ways, more or less, to more or less stave off insanity--which is indeed the understated dark side to this movie: such situations really are hazardous to mental health.Mostly a fun movie, told from the chef's POV. Some parts may require an understanding of Japanese cultural idiosyncracies, such as the crazy idea for "fried lobster" (which doesn't sound quite so crazy in the original Japanese). Also a serious movie about dealing with loneliness, isolation, monotony, which are often part of the tanshin funin experience.I have to disagree with another reviewer here though, this film has nothing, other than food, in common with Tampopo (dir. Juzo Itami).

Kong Ho Meng This marked the first of several films that I have watched during the Japanese Film Festival held in the GSC Cinemas (Msia) in Sept 2013. It contained an interesting concept - basically pertaining to survival skills employed by modern day professionals under extreme working conditions. It is something everyone can relate to at some point in our professional or student life. Postings to places far from our home, or working 24/7 for a demanding project. Effects conjured out as a result of leaving our comfort zones, like homesickness, feeling out of touch with family members' or loved ones whereabouts, urban lifestyle etc...but in this case, the saving grace is that the 'trapped' scientists had the luxury of a chef to provide the best of the most important necessities of all, which is home made food. It is rather amazing how sophisticated dishes can be made under lack of variety of food choices, and the low water boiling point. But another sweet side of the movie is that it quite diversely covered the fun activities that are likely to happen to fill in the boredom. There were the unpleasant side of the activities too, for instance during long distance phone calls which were better not made in the first place, or one particular favourite scene where a member threw tantrum as a particular food supply ran out. The only couple of things I can name that the movie did not cover at all were the doctor's chores, it was like none of the members had any health problems throughout the over 400-day stint.some of the characters were severely underdeveloped, I didn't get to know their background or why they chose to participate in the expedition at all. Overall this is easily a heartwarming movie but given its time length I felt more allocation to character development could be done to substitute for some of the food scenes. A 6.5/10 movie to me.

randy-517 you have heard of the udon western. well, this is the ramen southern, very southern :)Japanese science team spending over a year in a totally isolated outpost. food is important, as it is in Japanese culture. how people deal with isolation and loneliness and camaraderie. sweetly done.mostly seen through the eyes of the chef, but good character analysis in general. cinema realite shooting. acting is quite good and gives a real feel for Japanese science/engineer culture. a lot of good food, of course.if you liked tampopo, you'll love this one.