TV & Film Picks: K-Foodie Meets J-Foodie, Black Bag, A Working Man

K-Foodie Meets J-Foodie

Netflix

Japanese actor Yutaka Matsushige – best known for starring in Japanese long-running series The Solitary Gourmet (2012 to 2022) and its 2024 big-screen version now showing at The Projector – teams up with South Korean personality Sung Si-kyung in the 30-episode K-Foodie Meets J-Foodie.

The premise is simple. Sung, South Korea’s top foodie, joins Matsushige on a culinary adventure in which they share their favourite eateries in their home countries and trade tidbits on their views of food and life. 

From the best noodles in a nondescript restaurant in Tokyo’s Ikebukuro neighbourhood to the most decadent cheesecake in the Japanese seaside town of Kamakura, the two entertainers bond over their one obsession: food. They will explore South Korean eats in upcoming episodes. 

With new episodes streaming on Netflix every Thursday, K-Foodie Meets J-Foodie serves up a delectable pairing of food and travel from two popular holiday destinations. 

Black Bag (NC16)

93 minutes, now showing
★★★★☆

A set of couples who work in British intelligence are invited to a dinner organised by senior officer George (Michael Fassbender) and his wife and fellow agent Kathryn (Cate Blanchett).

During dinner and over the coming days, George receives information that raises suspicions about several in the group, including his wife.

It has been a while since the release of a twisting, dialogue-driven espionage thriller in the vein of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011). Black Bag not only fills the gap, but it also updates the format with humour and an exciting, free-flowing visual style that is the trademark of Hollywood director Steven Soderbergh.

George is the perfect British bureaucrat – he is meticulous, soft-spoken and never calls attention to himself. Polite to a fault, he fools others into thinking they can bamboozle or browbeat him. And like in Tinker Tailor, there is a mole whom George must smoke out.

The people under suspicion – who coincidentally form a set of romantically linked couples – each has an alibi who seems perfectly believable.

Both Blanchett and Fassbender are in great form. As the pair sitting at the nexus formed by two other couples, they are a believable blend of professional coolness towards others and loving warmth towards each other.

George’s digital superpowers allow him to confirm the whereabouts of the suspects, the couples Freddie and Clarissa (Tom Burke and Marisa Abela) and Dr Vaughan and James (Naomie Harris and Rege-Jean Page).

But his electronics cannot show him the why. The gap between the where and the why forms the compelling driving conflict of the story – it is the place where the messy personal lives of operatives spill over into their jobs. – John Lui

A Working Man (M18)

116 minutes, now showing
★★★☆☆

Chicago construction worker Levon Cade (Jason Statham) sets out to rescue his boss’ kidnapped daughter Jenny (Arianna Rivas) and uncovers a vast conspiracy of corruption.

Levon’s Linkedln listing in A Working Man is immaterial. The American writer-director of this B-movie is David Ayer of The Beekeeper (2024), and whether a beekeeper, a car dealer (The Bank Job, 2008) or an armoured truck driver (Wrath Of Man, 2021), the only character Statham plays is a mysterious loner hiding from a violent past he is forced to return to.

The predictability is the point. The 57-year-old Brit, with his blend of physicality and glowering charisma, is Hollywood’s most dependable action star. He knows what you came for. Nothing he can do about the slapdash plot, but he will ensure you the primitive satisfaction of seeing him punch, shoot, maim and perform martial arts for righteous justice.

The Stath continues to make the world a safer place in the service of action-packed entertainment. No one even pretends to take any of this seriously, and neither should you. – Whang Yee Ling