Love Potion

A few brief comments about of December’s film selection, “Master Cheng”

by John Bennison, Mountain Shadow Director

After viewing a dozen or more foreign films at this year’s virtual screening of the Mill Valley Film Festival in October, I once again selected four or five titles I knew I wanted to try to bring to our Mountain Shadow audiences in the coming year. Last month’s selection from Mongolia, “Veins of the World” was one of them. Now, in this weary Winter of discontent with Covid, I wanted us to enjoy a simple, warm-hearted film for a very different kind of holiday season. “Master Cheng” fits the bill. and I was fortunate to once again snag this pre-theatrical release.

On first viewing, you might quickly wonder if you’ve seen this film before. While names and faces of the characters may have changed and the Lapland setting may take you to another part of the world, the plotline is familiar. A strange looking foreigner with a funny accent shows up in town, the locals are suspicious, and separate necessities force everyone to set aside provincial prejudices and stereotypes and discover the world-wide human family all over again.

The film director’s comments expand upon this notion, and encourage you to review his comments (right).

As I often like to suggest when reviewing a film with a familiar plotline, it’s not a mystery, trying to figure out what’s going to happen; but rather a matter of how well the tale is persuasively retold as a helpful reminder of something of value to our human story, with characters that are authentic and credible.

As the film puts it simply, it’s about food. It’s about friendship. It’s about love. “Master Cheng” does this satisfyingly well. Bon appetit! jb