Ramen Shop (情牽拉麵茶) is an 2019 film from Singaporean director Eric Khoo. The film starts in Japan and finishes in Singapore. The movie stars Takumi Saito. The supporting cast include Jeanette Aw, Seiko Matsuda, Mark Lee, Tsuyoshi Ihara, and Beatrice Chien. This movie was briefly available in the Los Angeles theaters for about 5 days. Unfortunately, it was all within the Hollywood area where it made it very difficult to get out there.
The story starts in Takasaki, Japan. The son is a sou chief at his father's ramen shop, along with his uncle, his father's brother. The very next day, his father collapses and dies. After going through his father's old belongings, the son decides to make a sojourn to his mother's homeland of Singapore. There he seeks to rediscover his Singaporean side and to look for the tastes of his childhood. Along the way, he discovers his father's love of Bak Teh, a pork bone broth soup native to Singapore. Will the son find what he's looking for from his parents past in Singapore?
I caught this movie via Netflix, but it had already been renamed to Ramen Shop from Ramen Teh, the Singaporean title. Teh is the name of the dish. The movie is his discovery of his roots and combining both his ramen roots with his Singaporean roots. The movie was feel good throughout and a coming of age story, but for an 30 something guy.
It was hard to tell if this film was more Singaporean or Japanese. I don't watch much Singaporean stuff anymore and it did feel Japanese too me, but the director is Singaporean. Go figure. Confused or not on the style, I thoroughly enjoyed the film.
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