There’s no doubt that Japan’s a country that loves food. Food-focused manga abound, and clips of Japanese variety show hosts exclaiming “Oishii!” and “Umai!!” as they dig into a popular local delicacy have reached meme status both here and abroad.
Perhaps no show better typifies this in recent times than Kodoku no Gurume (孤独のグルメ), or The Solitary Gourmet. Based on an equally popular manga by Kusumi Masayuki and Taniguchi Jiro that ran for 21 years, the story follows Inogashira Goro (井之頭五郎). Goro runs his own independent import business and travels around Japan, making sales before quelling his hunger at a local food joint.
As happens with most good manga series, Kodoku became a TV show that ran for 10 seasons and spawned numerous specials. Like the manga, there’s almost no plot to the series’ stories. Instead, each episode depicts Inogashira – played with a sweet down-home likeability by veteran actor Matsushige Yutaka – eating his dishes with relish. Goro generally eats alone, making the show one of the influences behind Japan’s growing singles culture.
A Chinese version of the show, based in Taiwa, also aired for a single season in 2012. And yes, the restaurants in the series are based on real places. We profiled five of the best last year.
The soup movie that Bong Joon-Ho almost directed
Not to let a good thing go to waste, Matsushige and Company have decided to keep milking their cash cow. (As a fan of the show, I say that with respect and gratitude.)
Kodoku no Gurume The Movie – directed and written by Matsushige – will hit Japanese theaters this month on the 10th. The story – such as it ever is in this series – sees Goro travel around the world in search of the perfect soup.
In interviews, Matsushige says they decided to launch a movie as it came time to restructure the TV production. The stakeholders started talking about a movie, preparing for the possibility that the series might not get an 11th season.
Matsushige hadn’t already planned to direct. At one point, he says, he asked Korean director Bong Joon-Ho, the world-famous director behind Parasite and Snowpiercer, if he’d be interested. The two had previously worked together on the film TOKYO!, a three-part anthology set in the city and directed by three non-Japanese directors.
“I wrote him a letter,” Matsushige said, “but he said it wouldn’t work scheduling-wise. He said he really looked forward to seeing the finished product, though.”
(It’s unclear if and how much Bong seriously considered this offer.)
Matsushige said he was worried about bringing on an outside director “who’d suck up our TV Tokyo late-night staff.” As a result, he took up the challenge of directing it himself.
Personally, I’m pumped to watch Goro eat soup for two hours. Watch this space for my review next weekend.
Need more food-based Japanese movies? Good news! This isn’t the only food-themed movie in theaters currently. Grand Maison: Paris, the film version of the popular series starring SMAP member Kimura Takuya, is currently playing as well.
Updated 1/17/2025: Article incorrectly stated the Chinese production of Kodoku no Gurume was a Taiwanese production; this has been corrected.
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