Hungry Ghost Diner

After her long-unseen uncle mysteriously turns up one night at her food truck in Kuala Lumpur, Bonnie drives home to her semi-estranged father in a village up north. With a sudden lockdown preventing her return, she is forced to spend the night at the family-owned café, where she encounters the ghosts of those dearly departed gathering around for a scrumptious meal. The dead and the living are connected through their stomachs in We Jun Cho’s heartwarming food-centric dramedy, Hungry Ghost Diner, set among the Malaysian Chinese community during the weeks preceding the Hungry Ghost Festival. The film finds a unique tone for its subject, poised between bittersweet family drama, surreal fantasy and matter-of-fact horror, but always leaning on the side of levity. This is a work in which musical numbers rub shoulders with resplendent puppet shows and stately religious ceremonies. With its vibrant, expressive cinematography, propulsive score and an endearing, doe-eyed lead performance by singer Keat Yoke Chen, Hungry Ghost Diner tells an entertaining and universal story of reconnecting with one’s family. (International Film Festival Rotterdam)