Once Upon a Time in the Middle East
欢迎来龙餐馆
China, 2026, colour, 2.35:1, 139 mins.
Director: Wen Muye 文牧野.
Rating: 9/10.
Wry comedian Shen Teng shows extraordinary range as a chef caught up in a Middle East conflict post-11 Sep, the third and best feature so far by writer-director Wen Muye that carries plenty of present-day resonances.
STORY
A country in the Middle East, the present day. A chef for 30 years, Xu Fu has been invited by the Chinese Business Association to attend a reunion in the capital. He is questioned at immigration why he is returning after so long. The authorities have discovered that he last entered the country in mid-Nov 2002, to work as a chef in a Chinese restaurant, but was later suspected of involvement in a terrorist attack that killed three US soldiers and six civilians, though he was eventually acquitted by the US military then occupying the country. (On 16 Nov 2002, a snowy day in northern China, Xu Fu had left his mother [Wei Qing] and resentful young daughter Xu Le [Zhang Xiwei] to fly to the Middle East where a cousin had found him a job at Dragon Restaurant 龙餐馆 on Haifa Street in the capital. Xu Fu had urgently needed a job to pay off his debts, after a customer at his restaurant had been injured in a fire, leading to very high medical bills. On arrival in the Middle East, he had immediately stood up to the restaurant’s owner, a local middle-ranking civil servant called Zaid [Sherif Sobhy], and insisted on cooking “real” Chinese food, not the sweet, westernised fare the locals had become used to. Zaid had liked his attitude and agreed. Xu Fu had also immediately bonded with the restaurant’s manager, Ma Junsheng [Jiang Qiming], a smooth talker who spoke Arabic, knew everyone, and had a local fiancee, Lina [Nayra Akram], a teacher at an orphanage on Rashid Street. Four months later, by Mar 2003, business had been booming and the restaurant could hardly cope with demand. However, early one morning, following accusations by the US that the country represented a terrorist threat and was complicit in the attacks of 11 Sep 2001, the US military had bombed the capital. Three weeks later the Ba’athist government had fallen and the country had descended into chaos. Business at the restaurant had plummeted to zero, and the orphanage had been burned down, leaving Lina with over 20 children to look after. US troops had backed the opposition to form a provisional, anti-Ba’athist government. Xu Fu had saved enough money for a plane ticket home but Zaid – who still had his mid-level government job – had persuaded him to stay on, cooking and delivering food to the city’s heavily policed Safety Zone, adjacent to the restaurant. Xu Fu had demanded a half share in the restaurant and Zaid had agreed. The orphans had been brought in to help the business and given shelter at the restaurant. The first big job had been a large wedding banquet for the daughter of Hamad, a black marketeer supplying the restaurant with food. During this period Xu Fu had even managed finally to get on with troubled orphan Saif Kadim [Omar Sherif], whom he had taken on as his apprentice. After hearing from a US solider that his base was bereft of alcohol, Xu Fu – with Zaid’s reluctant agreement, needed to get a ministry permit – had arranged to buy booze from Hamad and sell it on to the US base, as well as serve it (only to foreigners, at night) in the restaurant. By Aug 2003, even though Ba’athist terrorist attacks continued every day on western coalition troops, business at the restaurant had been booming once more. Xu Fu had made a lot of money, and paid off his debts; but instead of returning home, he had become greedy and stayed. One night Zaid’s home had been bombed by terrorists and his wife Amina [Yasmin Rahmy] and daughter Hana [Aya Khalil], who suffered from lymphoma, had been killed. Shattered, Zaid had disappeared. A year and a half later, after a car bomb had killed three US soldiers and six civilians, US troops had raided the restaurant and arrested Xu Fu, Ma Junsheng and [after he had stabbed a soldier] Saif Kadim on suspicion of involvement. The three had been shown a picture of Zaid, whom the US military claimed had parked the car with the bomb. In Apr 2025 the three had been taken to Camp Alifah in Dilah governorate; six months later, they had graduated to being in charge of the camp’s kitchen, and even managed to help a terrorist, Ali [Ahmed Seleem], who was being tortured by a psychotic US officer, Morgan [Russell Shealy]. After agreeing to cook a lavish Christmas dinner for camp commander Pete Williams [Jason Paul Field], the three had been told they were free to go. But that same night terrorists had stormed the camp; Xu Fu, Ma Junsheng and Saif Kadim had survived the slaughter but then been captured by the terrorists’ leader as they tried to escape.)
REVIEW
In his most challenging, and nuanced, role to date, as a Chinese chef caught up in the chaos of an Arab country occupied by the US military post-11 Sep, wry Mainland comedian Shen Teng 沈腾, 46, cements his position as the country’s top box-office draw in a year in which he’s already headed the no. 1 attraction, Pegasus 3 飞驰人生3. Though it’s unlikely to beat that film’s super-hunky RMB4.42 billion, Once Upon a Time in the Middle East 欢迎来龙餐馆 has already taken a very nice RMB2.11 billion locally, for a no. 3 spot just behind Kung Fu Soccer 功夫女足 and just ahead of surprise hit Dear You 给阿嬷的情书. It starts its release beyond the Mainland this week.
A rare Mainland film to actually justify its two-hours-plus running time, OUATITME is only the third feature by writer-director Wen Muye 文牧野, 41, who bounded to attention with the black comedy-cum-drama Dying to Survive 我不是药神 (2018) and followed it with the engaging CNY heartwarmer Nice View 奇迹 笨小孩 (2022). Both were distinguished by strong roles for their leads – popular comedian Xu Zheng 徐峥 and young actor-singer Yi Yangqianxi 易烊千玺 – and so it is here, with Shen taking his gift for blending dry comedy and serious drama to a new level, helped by a top technical pacakge and an intelligent screenplay (including Wen’s regular co-writer Zhong Wei 钟伟) that brings a fresh, Chinese perspective to the subject of western interference in the Middle East.
Contrary to its publicity material (see another poster, left) and Shen’s lead role as a proud Chinese chef, the film is neither a comedy nor a foodie movie. It deals with US imperialism, religious fundamentalism, terrorist training and car-bomb attacks, and its violence is sudden and graphic when it comes. Though Wen has deliberately left unnamed the country in which it is set, the plot is clearly based on events in Iraq in the early 21st century and the invasion by a US-led western coalition in Mar 2003. Wen has also stated that he was inspired by the experiences of several Chinese who owned restaurants in Baghdad at the time, and that his lead character, chef Xu Fu (literally, “Lucky Xu”), was partly modelled on them and the way in which they used their premises as refuges for non-combatants and children.
Despite its often grim, realistic setting, and factual inspiration, OUATITME wears its politics lightly: there’s no discussion of the rights or wrongs of this political faction or that religious group, and even the US military, despite being portrayed as invasive, entitled bullies, are never accused of being so by either of the two Chinese characters through whose eyes the story unfolds. Xu Fu (Shen) is an experienced chef who’s taken the job in the Middle East to pay off debts back home; Ma Junsheng (played by relative newcomer Jiang Qiming 蒋奇明) is the manager of the restaurant and a Middle East veteran who speaks Arabic, has a local fiancee, and knows all the angles. When cornered, both repeatedly stress that, as Chinese, the conflict has nothing to do with them – but, to its credit, the film also makes it clear that they are not just observers and have clearly profited by the current chaos. Though Ma Junsheng is obviously more embedded in the culture, Xu Fu gets greedy and decides to stay on when given a chance to return home.
Mainland cinema is not short of movies about Chinese caught in conflict zones and trying to get out (Escape from the Outland 用武之地, 2025, being the latest). But OUATITME is much more than that and, though obviously not intended (as the film was shot during the spring and summer of 2024, does has present-day resonances with the current Middle East conflict, in which China has been a quiet, though not neutral, observer.
One of the film’s financiers (via his Dirty Monkeys Studio) and its overall creative producer was Ning Hao 宁浩, a director in his own right whose ironic style (from Crazy Stone 疯狂的石头, 2006, to The Hutong Cowboy 爆款好人, 2024) is clearly in evidence, from the genre-busting idea of making a Chinese chef the centre of a war-based story to the delicate balance between drama, character comedy and emotional moments that really resonate. (The film’s final few minutes are particularly treasurable.) Both of Wen’s previous features also came out of Dirty Monkeys Studio, of which he is a member.
Given his ability to play morally flexible characters in a serio-comic way, Shen is perfectly cast as Xu Fu, the gravelly-voiced, northern Chinese chef who leaves his aged mother and resentful young daughter to take up a job to pay off his debts. For him, there’s nothing more important than Chinese cuisine and during his first hours in his new (temporary) job he stands up to Zaid, the local owner of the restaurant, and refuses to cook the usual sweet, westernised slop that locals think is Chinese food. Zaid, whose day job is as a middle-ranking civil servant, takes a liking to him and Xu Fu is proved right, supported by manager Ma Junsheng, who knows a winner when he sees one. The film’s major delight is the way in which these main characters – plus Saif Kadim, a troubled orphan whom Xu Fu takes on as his apprentice – develop and re-engage over the next two hours as they plumb the depths of the country’s chaos.
Already a gifted and subtle performer, Shen shows an emotional range here that is new, even for him. He’s well supported by Nanning-born Jiang, 33, a stage actor who debuted on screen with a small role in Korean War drama The Sacrifice 金刚川 (2020) and was notable in his first lead role, in the offbeat light romance I Swear… 7天 (2025). As the restaurant’s owner whose life is completely reinvented, Egypt’s Sherif Sobhy shows impressive range, as well as his young fellow countryman Omar Sherif, 14 during filming, as the conflicted teenage orphan whom Xu Fu tries to steer along a peaceful path. In an extended cameo as a thuggish, effing-and-blinding ABC soldier, Hong Kong actor-singer Li Zhiting 李治廷 [Aarif Lee] continues his recent penchant for more forceful roles (Fireflies in the Sun 误杀II, 2021; Wolf Pack 狼群, 2022). Other roles, including the few female ones (Xu Fu’s mother, Zaid’s wife, Ma Junsheng’s fiancee), are thinly drawn, the film’s one major weakness – though some of their scenes may have been dropped in post-production, as the film does show signs of shortening.
Wen’s regular d.p., Wang Boxue 王博学, serves up a realistic, war-torn Middle East on a massive city set built at Qingdao’s China Movie Metropolis, as well as other sets in deserty Ningxia province, northwest China. A limited amount of shooting was also done in the Egyptian Sahara. The film’s Chinese title means “Welcome to Dragon Restaurant”.
CREDITS
Presented by Shanghai Dirty Monkeys Studio (CN), Beijing Damai Entertainment Culture (CN), China Film Group (CN), Ruyi Film Entertainment (CN), General Dream (Shanghai) Studio (CN), Beijing Cheer Entertainment (CN), Zhejiang FunAge Pictures (CN), Beijing Super Lion Culture Group (CN), Shanghai Ruyi Film & TV Production (CN). Produced by Shanghai Dirty Monkeys Studio (CN), General Dream (Shanghai) Studio (CN).
Script: Wen Muye, Lang Qunli, Zhong Wei. Photography: Wang Boxue. Editing: Liu Jinghao. Music: Huang Chao. Art direction: Li Miao. Costume design: Wang Wei. Styling: Li Miao, Li Zhou. Sound: Wang Gang, Liu Xiaosha. Action: Fu Xiaojie. Visual effects: Xie Xiaoyun. Second-unit direction: Han Xiaohan. Food direction: Yao Fei. Culinary advice: Wei Gangqiang. Executive direction: Sun Wenhan, Li Changjiang.
Cast: Shen Teng (Xu Fu), Jiang Qiming (Ma Junsheng), Omar Sherif (Saif Kadim), Li Zhiting [Aarif Lee] (Tony Wang, US soldier), Sherif Sobhy (Zaid), Wei Qing (Xu Fu’s mother), Zhang Xiwei (Xu Le, Xu Fu’s daughter), Alima (tour guide), Russell Shealy (Morgan, US soldier torturing Ali), Tanner Hagen (Joel, US soldier), Jason Paul Field (Pete Williams, US colonel at Camp Alifah), Travis Lincoln Cox (Eric Carter, US soldier supplying medicine to Zaid), Max Carpenter (US interrogation officer), Ahmed Seleem (Ali, terrorist leader/The Headmaster), Nayra Akram (Lina, Ma Junsheng’s girlfriend), Karma Hazem (Susu), Farouk Mohamed Farouk (Jamal Farouk, young terrorist in Camp Alifah), Ahmed Beshoo (baker), Yasmin Rahmy (Amina, Zaid’s wife), Aya Khalil (Hana, Zaid’s daughter).
Release: China, 11 Aug 2026.