Tokyo Dragon Chef (2020)

A Yakuza is released from prison to find that his old gang has been wiped out by some upstart young turks who now run the whole area. His buddy suggests that they make a new life for themselves by opening up a ramen noodle shop. The shop becomes wildly popular after a YouTube influencer eats there, causing a rival ramen shop run by former Yakuza to set up across the road and compete for business.

The latest film from Yoshihiro Nishimura eschews the director's trademark prosthetics and gore, probably more due to budget constraints than choice but maybe he wanted to do something different. The outlandish characters and tongue in cheek melodrama are still present and correct, but rather than have peoples heads explode he has them burst into song and dance. No, the film isn't a musical... except for those moments when it suddenly is.

Nishimura's fever dream imagination is still evident but struggles to overcome the obvious cheapness of the production, which feels more like a student film than the work of a director with decades of experience.

There's a certain amount of charm in the wilful stupidity of it all, but it doesn't even begin to approach the joyful madness of films like Meatball Machine: Kodoku. I guess funding is hard to come by these days, as evidenced by other films from the once prolific Sushi Typhoon crew like Noboru Iguchi's Ghost Squad.

If you do watch it, make sure you have food on hand, because you will be hungry for ramen well before the end credits roll.