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What's for Dinner, Mom?

Name: What's for Dinner, Mom?
Director: Mitsuhito Shiraha
Released: 2017
Duration: 117 min

Representation Score

8.6/10

Excellent

2017

Director

Mitsuhito Shiraha

Runtime

117 minutes

Average Rating

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New Showbiz Analysis

What's for Dinner, Mom? stands out as a transnational drama that goes beyond typical domestic stories. By focusing on the Japanese-Taiwanese diaspora, the film offers a nuanced view of how relocation and cross-cultural relationships shape identity. The narrative is driven by the emotional and intellectual labor of the sisters and their late mother, effectively challenging traditional patriarchal structures. While the film lacks explicit LGBTQ+ representation, it excels in its layered approach to ethnicity and chronic illness, presenting the mother's cancer as a realistic personal struggle rather than a sentimental cliché.

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Category Breakdown

Does What's for Dinner, Mom? have LGBTQ+ representation?

Fair

The film focuses on maternal lineage and sisterhood rather than LGBTQ+ identities. While it avoids traditional assumptions about straight relationships, it doesn't include explicit depictions of non-traditional gender identities.

How does What's for Dinner, Mom? portray gender?

Good

The story challenges traditional gender roles by emphasizing the sisters' investigative work and their mother's emotional influence. Women's labor and emotional intelligence drive the plot.

How racially and ethnically diverse is What's for Dinner, Mom??

Good

The film explores the experiences of the Japanese-Taiwanese diaspora, offering depth through cross-cultural relationships and the complexities of a transnational life.

How does What's for Dinner, Mom? represent religion and culture?

Good

The movie highlights the impact of systemic displacement and the fragility of domestic structures. It emphasizes personal, lived experiences over nationalistic narratives, focusing on the mother's life through relocation and loss.

Does What's for Dinner, Mom? include disability representation?

Fair

The mother's battle with cancer is a key part of the story. The film avoids sentimentality, focusing instead on the systemic and personal impacts of her illness.

Present on Screen

Offers a strong exploration of the Japanese-Taiwanese diaspora and transnational identity.
Effectively centers women's ability to drive the story and emotional intelligence over traditional patriarchal structures.
Provides a nuanced portrayal of chronic illness that avoids common sentimental clichés.

Limited or Absent

Lacks explicit representation for LGBTQ+ or non-traditional gender identities.
Focuses primarily on the central maternal lineage, limiting diverse perspectives.

Official Synopsis

Two sisters Tae and Yo come back to their old house which is soon to be torn down. Clearing up the family mementos, Tae finds a red box full of recipes and letters written by their mother who died 20 years ago. In these recipes and letters, she finds out how her mother had struggled in her life due to relocation from Japan to Taiwan, the death of her Taiwanese husband, and a battle with cancer. Tae travels to Taiwan to trace her mother's past, reminiscing about the dishes she made for the family.

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