Released 2017

3 stars (out of 4)

Last week, we attended the Toronto Japanese Film Festival closing night screening of THE LAST RECIPE. Hard to believe it has been a whole week already, but anyway…

Mitsuru is a gifted chef who can remember and replicate any dish he’s ever tasted. Talented to a fault, his exacting nature previously got in the way of the success of his restaurant, so now he makes ends meet by re-creating custom meals for high paying clients. He receives an unusual request to find the final recipe of the dishes that were to be served to the Emperor during his visit to occupied Manchuria. Although Mitsuru is skeptical about the job, the offered reward is too great to refuse, so he begins an investigation into the life and works of a renowned chef named Yamagata.

Chronicling Yamagata’s past quickly becomes a journey of self-discovery for Mitsuru as well in this historically detailed and satisfying film. Stories set amongst the politics and espionage of 1930s Manchuria are always interesting. Of course, there’re also lots of images of beautiful food. Yeah, you bet we were hungry after the show!