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.
The Farewell (别告诉她) is an 2019 film. The movie stars Awkwafina (Nora Lum). The supporting cast include Tzi Ma, Diana Lin, Zhao Shuzhen, Lu Hong, and Jiang Yongbo. The movie was directed by Lulu Wang and based on her own life experience.
Billi is trying to make it on her own as an writer in New York. Billi goes home to wash her clothes and eat her mother's food. When she finds out that her grandmother has cancer, the whole family heads out to Zhong Guo to say their farewell. But there's a catch. The family has decided NOT to tell her grandmother. And Billi finds out why. Torn, Billi goes along with it. But you can see it on her face that she wants so badly to tell her grandmother. What will she do?
This movie was pretty awesome. Lulu Wang is probably pretty well connected to her roots, but she's culturally indoctrinated by her US lifestyle. It comes out in her presentation of the things that happen in Zhong Guo. Lulu Wang accepts the culture, but takes a critical eye to it.
Even though the concept of the movie will give casual movie-goers an excuse to watch and feel nerdy smart or culturally aware, it was not the focus of the movie for me. The focus was really Billi trying to reconcile her roots in Zhong Guo and where she grew up, US. The cultures are vastly different in many ways and it starts with the family dynamics. Than it goes to how elders treat the younger generation. Than it goes to the language. Most kids that grow up in the states from their elementary days will be pretty bad at the mother tongue of their parents.
I was also shocked at how good Billi's grammer was when speaking her mother tongue. If you know folks trying to speak their mother tongue here in LA, they suck. They don't want to unless they have to. And when they do, they translate from English and the grammer is all off. Billi's grammer was on point. That's what a great script does for you. BUT it would have been more realistic if she messed up and her elders kept correcting her. Because that's what happens all the time around LA.
If you're or FOB or not and have Zhong Guo roots, you should make an effort to watch this film. It is well made, independent in feel, but spoke volumes to me and my teenage daughter.
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (玩命關頭:特別行動) is an 2019 film. The movie stars Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Vanessa Kirby, and Idris Elba. The supporting cast include Eiza González, Cliff Curtis, Helen Mirren and Leati "Roman Reigns" Anoaʻi. Ryan Reynolds and Kevin Hart make uncredited cameo appearances.
Vanessa Kirby plays Hattie Shaw, a MI6 field agent that gets a virus stuck inside of her. Hattie also happens to the be sister of Decker Shaw, played by Jason Statham. Dwayne Johnson, playing Luke Hobbs, is recruited by the CIA to track down the virus and get it back to safety. MI6 covertly recruits Decker to track Hattie down. As they both make their way to finding her, Black superman, played by Idris Elba, shows up to mess things up. Hobbs and Shaw must now team up to get to the bottom of this.
Just like the other Fast and Furious (FF) movies, there are lots of cars and lots of explosions. Since the 6th FF movie, the storyline has shifted towards to the superhero aspects. Enter Black Superman.
I caught this in the local theatre and was entertained.
