It is not easy to stoke immense warmth and love through a film. It’s easier to create emotional moments such as sadness and shock. Sometimes this is done by separating what characters can see and what audience can watch. In this movie, the camera was so intimate with the characters that I felt that I was right there in the scene, feeling all the smell and taste of the food, and warmth and affection between the characters. This experience resembles how cooking is. We use all our senses when we cook and it is an intimate experience for servicing others.

One of the reasons the movie was filled with much love is that it shows tremendous restraints, meaning it doesn’t swing big in dramatic moments. The affection between the two main characters is subtle and mellow, like a dish that is delicious without an overpowering flavor. Most intense scenes were actually from cooking scenes where the camera followed actors cooking real food methodically with dedication.

I also liked that the movie kept going after the main tragic episode. Like the recipes handed down through generations, the spirit, and love and dedication are very much alive in others. The open door at the end of the movie, and the fire on the stove keeping the kitchen warm symbolizes all the possibilities, passions, and everything in motion, which are present in every kitchen when people cook.