A Tale of Samurai Cooking - A True Love Story (2014) (DVD) (English Subtitled) (Hong Kong Version) DVD Region 3

Kora Kengo stars as young samurai Yasunobu, the second son of the Funaki family that serves the Lord of Kaga as cooks. After Yasunobu's older brother passes away, the duty of succeeding his father's position as "kitchen samurai" falls upon his shoulders. It's not exactly a calling that he embraces as he demonstrates no passion or talent for cooking and questions his own worth as a samurai. To help his son along, Yasunobu's father (Nishida Toshiyuki) finds him an unconventional wife with superior cooking skills. Divorced by her previous husband for being too impertinent, Haru has not only strong taste buds but also a strong enough personality to teach and inspire her reluctant husband.

As Haru, Ueto Aya brings her usual bright and sprightly presence, which at times seems a bit out of place in a period film, but she injects a welcome burst of energy to this story that is otherwise precisely told in a traditional, dignified and deliberately contained manner and tone. Yasunobu, too, is reserved, terse and awkwardly listless, which makes his clumsy struggles with cooking all the more amusing. With Haru's support, he gradually grows into his role as a kitchen samurai. Similarly, their love story is one in which they gradually grow fond of each other in sweet but understated fashion.

Though the Funaki family's lives remain largely quiet and peaceful, things are far from quiet and peaceful in the Kaga domain. Power struggle and persecutions lead to serious fallouts and even a vendetta mission, all of which Yasunobu half-heartedly tries to be a part of, but his kitchen position and unassertive presence render him peripheral to the larger political events and consequences that would typically be the main plot of a samurai movie. Instead, Yasunobu's most significant struggles and service would be what he achieves in the kitchen, from learning to peel his potatoes right to preparing a feast that resplendently represents Kaga.

Similar to Abacus and Sword, another film written by Kashiwada Michio that recounted the life and achievements of an accountant samurai, A Tale of Samurai Cooking approaches the samurai drama as a journeyman careerist tale that is interesting exactly for being mundane rather than action-packed. Naturally, Samurai Cooking is also a culinary tale, and the film ably cooks up a delicious eyeful of traditional Kanazawa cuisine prepared according to the recipe collections left by the Funaki family.