TRIGGER WARNING: People smoking a lot. And inside!

I loved this. In spite of it being 15 years old, it still looks fresh.

This is a kind of omnibus drama, stories about different people loosely connected. And in this case, the connection is the restaurant that is open from midnight to dawn! The restaurant owner just sits there smoking when he is not cooking and listens to his customers lives without interfering. We do not know anything about him. Not even his name: everyone just calls him Master!

Each episode deals with a customer's problem: love, parents, friendship, children, jobs. Master is there to give them their comfort food and listen.

I love this kind of dramas so I enjoyed it a lot. The stories are told in short 25min episodes but are completed, sometimes there are even time skips (months, weeks) but this is not an artificial passing of time (for the dramatic effect) but it is life: the characters needed that time to show us how their stories were going to finally turn out (an actress needed to complete the movie for example!).

The cinematography is amazing: shots of Tokyo at night, the bustling streets give way to a small alley. The music is amazing: I do not know anything about japanese music but in any case this is not pop music.

People are lovely and what every one of us needs is a plate of comfort food and a friendly non judgemental ear. And that is what this Midnight diner provides for its customers. Warm and welcoming.