Finnish director Mika Kaurismäki (elder brother of Aki Kaurismäki) gives us a well-intentioned if watery and bland drama, a decently performed but tepid heartwarmer which can be filed under that dodgiest of sub-headings: “foodie”, that is, something with a supercilious tendency to showcase delicious-seeming food as a shortcut to being life-affirming and life-enhancing.
A Chinese widower called Cheng (played by Hong Kong actor Pak Hong Chu) shows up out of the blue in a remote Finnish town with his young son Niu Niu (Lucas Hsuan), and walks into a roadside cafe run by Sirkka (Anna-Maija Tuokko), who is listlessly serving up dull grub for the locals. With no Finnish and only halting English, Cheng asks everyone in the place if they know of “Fongtron”: this mysterious person or business is the reason he’s here. No one can help (and weirdly, it doesn’t occur to anyone to use Google Translate to help with their communication difficulties).
Well, Sirrka lets Cheng and his boy stay in a room in her house and, to pay her back, Cheng offers to cook delicious Chinese food for the Chinese tourists who at the moment are deterred from spending their cash in her place because of the unappetising slop she’s offering. Cheng turns out to be a professional chef in Shanghai, with a terribly sad reason for being in Finland. Cheng’s food is a runaway hit, and there’s a spark between him and Sirrka.
This is a reasonable enough film, though underpowered, and the truth about “Fongtron” is very perfunctorily revealed and then dismissed. And then there’s the lovingly slow, pointless shots of the food itself, especially over the closing credits. Where’s the bite?
• Master Cheng is released on 11 March in cinemas.
