Ramen Shop – Ramen Teh (2018)

Directed by: Eric Khoo | 90 minutes | drama | Actors: Takumi Saitoh, Seiko Matsuda, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Jeanette Aw, Shogen, Mark Lee, Tetsuya Bessho, Beatrice Chien

Masato is crazy about everything that has to do with cooking. The origin of ingredients, preparing food, experimenting with it and enjoying a good meal. In his job as ramen chef at his father’s Japanese restaurant, he can get rid of some of that urge, but his relationship with his father is cool to say the least. This seems to have to do with the death of his mother several years ago. When Masato’s father also suddenly dies, and Masato is looking through his belongings, a desire arises to go to Singapore, where his mother is from. With the help of food blogger Miki, Masato gets to know his mother’s family and tries to find an old family recipe.

‘Ramen Shop’ is a calmly moving family drama, which never surprises, but nevertheless sustains despite its predictability. The conflicts are big and dramatic, and have to do with stubbornness and making the wrong choices. Some of those decisions can’t be reversed, dramatically altering certain lives around whom ‘Ramen Shop’ revolves. But in the end it’s all about the luck of the protagonist Masato, and how things will go for him is actually as clear as a blob after the first twenty minutes.

What helps to hold the viewer’s attention is the historical background against which Eric Khoo portrays the family history. In the West we have still not recovered from the atrocities caused by the Nazis in World War II, in China there is a similar hatred of the Japanese, especially among the generation that consciously experienced that period. Forgiveness and forgetting is not an issue. When Masato visits an exhibition about this period, the viewer is informed about these feelings through his eyes.

Although ‘Ramen Shop’ often takes place in kitchens and restaurants, the camera never lingers on the dishes for too long. Just long enough to get hungry, but probably too short for foodies. The acting is adequate, but not outstanding. It is a pity that the dialogues are sometimes a bit too inventive. If you consider yourself on the cynical side of movie buffs, ‘Ramen Shop’ is probably too sentimental for you. Romantics and food lovers will enjoy this film more. Not to watch on an empty stomach!