Master Cheng review – Chinese chef does Finland in odd-couple foodie drama

When a widower washes up in a remote Finnish town with his son, his culinary skills enchant the locals and mesmerise the camera

Finnish director Mika Kaurismaki (elder brother of Aki Kaurismaki) gives us a well-intentioned if watery and bland drama, a decently performed but tepid heartwarmer which can be filed under that dodgiest of sub-headings: foodie", that is, something with a supercilious tendency to showcase delicious-seeming food as a shortcut to being life-affirming and life-enhancing.

A Chinese widower called Cheng (played by Hong Kong actor Pak Hong Chu) shows up out of the blue in a remote Finnish town with his young son Niu Niu (Lucas Hsuan), and walks into a roadside cafe run by Sirkka (Anna-Maija Tuokko), who is listlessly serving up dull grub for the locals. With no Finnish and only halting English, Cheng asks everyone in the place if they know of Fongtron": this mysterious person or business is the reason he's here. No one can help (and weirdly, it doesn't occur to anyone to use Google Translate to help with their communication difficulties).