2006, 102 mins
Review by Susan Meehan
After a serving of ‘Kamome Diner’ I emerged from the cinema feeling altogether uplifted and nourished as if by a good helping of comfort food, akin to someone in a ‘Ready-Brek’ advertisement.
The captivating and beautifully-acted film centres on thirty-something Sachie, who has left Japan for Helsinki; there she has opened a plainly but attractively furnished diner offering simple Japanese fare. Though no one sets foot in the diner, there is no lack of interest in the exotic owner and the film gently makes fun of perceptions of the Japanese – three Finnish women regularly peer in the diner and rush off alarmed each time Sachie looks at them with a welcoming smile. They wonder whether this diminutive foreigner is indeed a child or an adult but are reluctant to check for themselves.
Tommi (Jarkko Niemi), a young Japanophile who speaks a smattering of Japanese and wears Japan-themed t-shirts ends up being Sachie’s first customer and regular and as such gets free cups of coffee thereafter. On one occasion he asks Sachie for the lyrics to the ‘Gatchaman’ (Japanese animated programme) song, which for the first time makes her, really think about Japan.
That very day Sachie comes across the unusual looking Midori (Hairi Katagiri) reading ‘Moomin Summer Madness’ in a bookshop café. Much to Sachie’s delight, Midori scribbles down the Gatchaman lyrics for her and ends up staying at Sachie’s home while helping out at the diner for free.
Midori, randomly holidaying in Finland, is a kooky straight-talking individual. Out of gratitude to Sachie for her hospitality and friendship, she thinks of ways of attracting more customers to the eatery through advertising it to Japanese tourists or pandering to the Finnish palate through adding reindeer and herring ‘onigiri’ (rice balls) to the menu. Sachie, however, is adamant that her simple menu will eventually win over local Finns and doesn’t want to pander to customers in any way. She is confident that the simple plum, seaweed and salmon onigiri or Japanese ‘soul food’ will naturally attract a Finnish clientele.
This does happen eventually, helped along the way by the introduction of cinnamon rolls which end up drawing in locals, including the three peering Finnish ladies. The diner becomes the toast of the town as customers start eating the onigiri and pork cutlets in equal measure.
The sense of community that Sachie creates is palpable; she also ends up ‘adopting’ middle-aged Masako (Masako Motai). Masako, interested in visiting the country which she has got to know through Finnish TV’s quirky endurance and air guitar competitions (a funny reversal as it is usually Japanese TV oddities which claim all the attention), and relieved of looking after her parents after more than twenty years, ends up slightly aimlessly in Helsinki.
The film is a tribute to female solidarity, acceptance and quirkiness. Funny and beautifully filmed – the shots of photogenic Helsinki are mesmerising and the scenes capturing the trickling sound of coffee filtering and onigiri being prepared in the diner are captivating – a real feast and tonic for all the senses, leaving one with a craving for more.
Editor’s note: This extremely popular movie has also been reviewed by Fumiko Halloran in Issue 13 (Vol. 3 No. 1). She takes a different, but equally affectionate, angle.
