Midnight Diner

Midnight Diner (深夜食堂, 2014) is a Japanese drama you can watch online on iFILM, based on Yaro Abe's long-running manga Shinya Shokudo. Director Joji Matsuoka brings the late-night Tokyo diner to the screen: a small counter, a scarred owner, and whoever shows up after midnight.

Kaoru Kobayashi plays the cook with the stillness of someone who has heard it all. The regulars — a grieving widow, a bar hostess, a restless labourer — come less for the food than because there is nowhere else to be at that hour. Then one night, an unclaimed urn of ashes appears on the counter. Nobody knows who left it. Deliberate, low-key, and genuinely moving once it settles in. Stream Midnight Diner on iFILM.