While I haven't had a lot of luck in winning at lucky draws or giveaways, I managed to get a pair of free tickets to the Singapore premiere of "Gekieiga Kodoku no Gurume" / "The Solitary Gourmet" on 19 March 2025, thanks to Japan Creative Centre. To be honest, I wasn't expecting this at all and had prepared myself mentally to go and watch this when the movie is released here at the end of this month. As such, winning the tickets came as an unexpected but very pleasant surprise.
Actually, I hadn't even expected that the movie version of "Kodoku no Gurume" would make it to our local cinemas. That's not because I have doubts over its popularity or the appeal of the title but rather, I've always had the impression that awareness of this series and the manga here in Singapore should be fairly limited to 知る人ぞ知る i.e. those who know know or those who follow Japanese pop culture. In fact, I was guessing that another food-themed movie "Grand Maison Paris" had a higher chance of making it here because the drama series "Grand Maison Tokyo" is available for viewing here on Netflix and Kimura Takuya is arguably more well-known than Matsushige Yutaka even to those who are not that familiar with Japanese stars. On the other hand, all seasons and SPs of "Kodoku no Gurume" can be viewed on Netflix Japan but not in Singapore. As such, to see that "Kodoku no Gurume" is coming to our shores first as compared to "Grand Maison", this speaks volumes of the series' popularity and the distributor's/sponsors' confidence in this title. Hopefully, the box office takings will be at least enough to cover the costs, considering that this is offered exclusively at The Projector and it's unknown as yet how the screening schedule will be like and how long this movie will run here in Singapore.
The size of the hall is also worth considering when determining if the release is a commercial success. If the screenings are held in venues like the Yangtze Hall which was the venue of this premiere, it's considerably bigger than the usual theatres used for Japanese films in the past. This could be a good or bad thing though. While it will definitely be more difficult to fill up one hall, it will allow more to fit into one session rather than have multiple screenings with smaller audiences. I would assume that more sessions and bigger halls will incur higher costs so striking a balance is definitely challenging. I certainly hope that things will work out well because if Japanese films don't do well here in the box office, it can mean that we won't get to see more releases in future other than those which are featured during film festivals or not released on a commercial scale.
On the whole, this was a good event which went reasonably well, save for the undesirable behaviour of some members of the audience. Actually, at the beginning of the screening, there was already a "warning video" from The Projector reminding people to be mindful of their behaviour in the cinema and not disrupt others' viewing experience. I personally found that video quite interesting and witty - it was rather unlike similar warning clips in the past because it was so direct in highlighting the bad habits of some movie goers.
However, there were still many who were late for the screening and made so much noise while looking for their seats. And even if you needed to find your seats in the dark, your mobile phone's light should not be moving around and shining into other people's eyes instead of being pointed downwards to the floor and onto the seat numbers on the chairs. The bewildering thing was, the seat numbers and rows were already illuminated in the darkness and there was quite a bit of light from the screen so do you really need that additional light from your mobile phone? I also had the misfortune of being seated behind this latecomer who came in past 8pm - the movie had already passed the halfway mark by then and our view was blocked for a while as a result. I can't help but wonder, shouldn't there be a cutoff point to prevent these latecomers from interrupting everyone else who made an effort to be on time? Of course, given that the timing of the screening coincided with the evening rush hour and the traffic situation was probably worsened by the rainy spell for the entire day, I get it that people could be held up despite their best intentions. However, it might be good for organisers to consider whether to set a cut-off time for admission for the benefit of those who are on time for future events. If I was at a movie which I paid for and my viewing experience was marred by this, I would be even more annoyed. Not that anyone deserved anything less for a free screening though.
The other thing which was truly unpleasant to watch, were the people who left before and during the Q & A session with Matsushige Yutaka. No doubt that he was not physically present here in Singapore, the fact that he dialed in from Japan (which is one hour later than SG) and the logistics, time and effort put into the preparation surely warranted more respect from those who turned up for this screening. While I understand that there may be many who came for the sake of the free screening and may not be fans of the series or Matsushige himself, it was basic courtesy not to leave while the Q & A was ongoing. At least for those who left while the credit roll was shown, the cinema hall was still dark and their movements were not that conspicuous and seen by Matsushige himself. However, those who left in the lighted cinema and while Matsushige was talking, it was downright rude. I wonder how he might have felt when he saw those people moving out of the hall. And those empty seats in the hall - it did come across as pretty embarrassing and not the kind of thing we probably want to show a guest from afar. In this sense, while I did feel that it was a pity that he could not come to Singapore personally to promote this film, I also thought that it was good for him not to see such discourteous behaviour in person. Would less people leave the theatre like this if he was appearing in person? Maybe not in his face but I suppose there would still be those who would try to leave before the lights come on.
Another possible reason for the disdain shown towards the Q & A session: the 舞台挨拶 / stage greeting culture is not so prevalent and strong here that people don't necessarily see this as something important or of value. The thing is, if the organisers tried to add value to the screening by arranging something like this and it's not often that we get to "see and talk" to the cast of a Japanese movie, we should show our appreciation by being physically present. And if organisers see that such add-ons are not appreciated, who would want to go to the trouble of arranging these things in future?
Last but not least, I was actually hoping for something special to commemorate the event rather it being just a pre-release screening where we watched a movie and left the cinema. Considering that this was a premiere, I was hoping to see some decorations or feature wall for people to take pictures with or the movie's pamphlet being given out so that it can be posted on social media for PR purposes. While there was a stand-up panel of the movie, it didn't quite stand out since it was placed alongside that of other movies. And the pamphlet which I got was actually placed at ABC Cooking Studio rather than at the screening venue itself. I don't know if this was actually made available at the venue but I didn't see it at the collection desk. It might be a far stretch to expect more such as being able to buy the movie's pamphlet booklet or merchandise but perhaps some small memorabilia for the audience might be good.
As for my review of the movie, I will be posting that on another day. With regard to the post-screening Q & A, highlights from that section will appear in a separate post. Do keep a lookout for both posts coming your way soon!
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