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Movie
Poster for One Bowl of Kakesoba

One Bowl of Kakesoba

1992 · 98 min

A quiet, tender slice of life that slowly reveals its heart through small acts of kindness and shared grief.

Overview
Set in Sapporo during the oil crisis of the early '70s, the film centers on the Hokkaitei soba stand run by a stoic patriarch and his perky wife. One New Year's day, a haggard-looking mother and her two adorable moppets poke their heads into the restaurant and ask for a single bowl of kakesoba. Noticing that the trio is looking a little low in the heels, she puts in an extra scoop of noodles. The youngest boy declares that the soba is delicious. The next year, the same threesome appears again asking for one bowl of kakesoba. This time the old man dumps in two helpings. He is struck by how much the youngest looks like their own son who was hit by a truck three years previous. The following year, the three return and this time the mother tells her story...

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In the UKNo streaming, rental or purchase options known.
In your watch list

How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
  • melancholicstrength 2 of 3
  • warmstrength 2 of 3
  • earneststrength 2 of 3
Pacing
slow-burn, 1 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention
engaged, 3 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes
  • grief
  • family
  • parenthood
  • healing
  • class
Places
  • small town
  • workplace
Era
period
Audience
adult
Form
None
Content intensity
  • Gore none
  • Language none
  • Violence none
  • Sex none
All scales, 0 to 10
Scales, 0 to 10
ScaleValue0 to 10
Action1
Horror0
Humour3
Realism8
Romance1
Tension2
Darkness4
Complexity4
Emotional weight7

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Where to watch in the UK

No UK streaming, rental or purchase options are known.

Streaming data from JustWatch.TMDB

Details

Genres
drama
Directed by
Katsumi Nishikawa
Written by
Ai Nagai
Starring
Tsunehiko Watase, Pinko Izumi, Shingo Tsurumi, Masaya Obi, Hidetsugu Takiguchi, Kōen Okumura, Leonard Kuma, Shingo Yanagisawa
Music
Toshiyuki Watanabe
Cinematography
Kuratarō Takamura
Runtime
98 min
Country
Japan
Languages
Japanese

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