AllMovie

A handful of men learn to sooth their hearts and souls through their stomachs in this comedy from Japanese filmmaker Shuichi Okita. The Fuji Dome Station is a scientific research facility in the Antarctic, where a handful of academics are spending a year studying life at the bottom on the world. Life at the Fuji Dome is both challenging and frustrating -- while there's much to do, there are few ways for the men to pass their free time in a place where the temperature is 50 degrees below zero (Celsius) on a good day, and some of the crew begin to go stir crazy as they play baseball in the snow, exercise outside in their skivvies and obsess about their families at home. Nishimura has his own way to boost morale; he's a gourmet cook, and each day he prepares a different delicacy for his colleagues, giving them a bit of pleasure and sustenance that helps them through the long nights away from civilization. But Nishimura has problems of his own as he strives to stay in contact with his wife and children, and a more pressing emergency arises when he starts running low on the favored comfort food of his team mates, ramen. Nankyoku Ryorinin (aka The Chef of South Polar) received its American premiere at the 2010 Seattle International Film Festival.