Originally named Ramen Teh, Ramen Shop is about a young man named Masato going on a journey to Singapore to learn more about his deceased parents. When he arrives at the food metropolis, he learns that he is uncovering a very painful past surrounding his family that he was never aware of. I saw very little information about the film and very few people even reviewed it. With a bare minimum synopsis and my small admiration for Saitoh Takumi who plays Masato, I decided to give this movie a try about 2 years ago and didn't review it until now. Full spoilers ahead, you have been warned.
The film opens up with Masato and his father operating at their ramen shop in Japan. They exchange no words and continue to work until closing. Masato's father then leaves the shop to go to a bar nearby for a drink. Masato holds his father with disdain seeing him as a man obsessed with work and no affection for his only son. He vents this to his uncle who drops by the ramen shop. When his uncle meets up with Masato's father at the bar, he brings up that today is the death anniversary of Masato's mother.
When the ramen shop opens the next day, Masato begs his uncle to try a soup he made. His uncle is annoyed as this is yet another attempt at making "Chinese soup". To Masato, this soup was special as this was made purely from a memory tied to his mother. He spent much of his time after work doing research on Singaporean cuisine and perfecting his soup. We see Masato toss a bunch of dried herbs and spices on the kitchen counter. To a layman's eyes, this may seem strange, but anyone knowing the cuisine would instantly think of bak kut teh, a pork rib soup comprised of many spices and Chinese herbs. Food is a central theme of the movie, but bak kut teh has its importance later on in the story.
Masato sets up shop and his uncle discover's Masato's father collapsed on the floor. The shot cuts to a stockpot in full boil with steam fuming from under the lid. Then we see an aerial shot of an ambulance and later Masato returns to a now empty house in funeral attire. For nostalgia's sake, he starts rummaging in his closet through his parents' old belongings. In an old suitcase, he finds a daruma (very important in the end!), some old photos of him as a baby and his younger parents, and his mother's diary. He sees his uncle for the last time and decides to travel to Singapore based on an old letter and photo he found in the old suitcase.
While some of the scenes were shot in Japan, quite a lot of the story is told in Singapore and also through flashbacks that happened in Singapore. One unique thing that sets this film from the usual commercial films is the color grading. Director Eric Khoo selected a very washed-out color spectrum almost to mimic faded color photographs. As this is a film about a journey through memories, I would say this was a deliberate choice. Sometimes the blue skies appear grayer and foods that are typically vibrantly colored are now less saturated. There is barely any soundtrack in the film and I probably wouldn't have even noticed if they decided to not use a soundtrack at all.
During Masato's trip, he meets up with a Japanese food blogger, Miki, who now resides in Singapore. She acts as his guide and translator to teach him about Singaporean cuisine. Miki tells Masato that Singapore is a melting pot of cultures as you can see reflected in its cuisine. She then adds that even ramen that is so revered and associated with Japanese cuisine has its origin in Chinese cuisine. Miki then comments that Masato is the same, a combination of two cultures. If you haven't figured it out by now, Masato is a mixed child with a Japanese father and a Singaporean Chinese mother. This brings me back to bak kut teh. It is a dish that melds various cuisines into one and it just so happens to be the thing that Masato remembers eating as a kid. But he could never get the flavors right and his mother, Mei Lian, never lived long enough to teach him. Artistically, I think making bak kut teh a symbolic dish was a very good and powerful choice in the story.
Mei Lian met Kazuo, Masato's father, at the restaurant she worked at. Both were very attracted to each other and also to their cultures. Kazuo comments that he loves the bak kut teh and he invites Mei Lian to his kaiseki restaurant to show her authentic Japanese cuisine. The happy couple goes on food dates all throughout Singapore. Masato later learns that his parents' relationship was not blessed at all. Mei Lian's choice of husband was met with great disapproval by her mother, Madam Lee. She didn't want her daughter to marry a man much older than her and also that he was Japanese. The film tries to blend in the historical trauma that Singapore experienced under the Japanese occupation which contributed to Madam Lee's prejudice and initial animosity towards Masato. While I do see this as a very realistic take on what would strain on an inter-cultural relationship, it didn't present well in the film. I felt that the scene and writing were awkwardly placed. To be honest, I don't know how to "fix" or re-direct the scenes either. I feel that there was a try to mix drama with history, but something is still missing. However, I think it's important to point out this hits hard with many audiences including myself because many countries still remember the war atrocities committed during the Japanese occupation which are still felt today.
I feel that what clearly worked well in the film was the love between Masato's parents. Ihara Tsuyoshi, who plays Kazuo, is a veteran actor and I liked how he portrayed the different sides of Kazuo before and after Mei Lian's death. Kazuo is clearly older than Mei Lian, but comes off as very honest and caring. He is enthusiastic about cuisine and clearly enjoys it with someone he loves. But once Mei Lian is gone, Kazuo lost that spark in his life and becomes the cold and grumpy man we see at the beginning of the film. Mei Lian, played by Jeanette Aw, is optimistic at first, but is pained when Madame Lee says no to the relationship. The mother and daughter never reconciled even until death. Masato sees his grandmother, Madam Lee, as a heartless and cruel woman refusing to even go to her daughter's own funeral, and during a drunken evening, he angrily shouts at her door calling her evil. However unknown to him, Madam Lee had her own pain.
A lot of people liked Uncle Wee, played by Mark Lee. I loved Uncle Wee as well. He is the supportive brother of Mei Lian who didn't see Kazuo in a bad light and even cared for Masato when he was a child. He is also the comic relief adding color and humor to an otherwise drab-colored and sentimental story. All the funny lines were given to him and his young daughters who we see inherit his sense of humor. Uncle Wee is a character stuck in an uncomfortable position. On one hand, he wants to help his sister and on the other, he risks straining his own relationship with his mother. This is why we see him hesitant to bring Masato to Madam Lee knowing that she will fly into a rage.
To apologize for his drunken fit and fulfill his mother's final wish, Masato decides to impress Madam Lee through food. When she ate his food, she had burst into tears as she saw Masato now as an extension of Mei Lian. Flashbacks tell us that both Mei Lian and Madam Lee had regrets. Her regret stemmed from her own pride and prejudice. Madam Lee had secretly observed her grandson from afar and wanted to make things better only it was too late. The movie ends with Masato opening his own restaurant with his own creation, ramen teh, the original namesake of the film. This is his homage to his parents' memory and we see the red daruma appear with both of its eyes filled in. For those unaware, a daruma with both of its eyes filled in means the owner's wishes have been fulfilled. I think by now, we know what wishes have been fulfilled.
Overall, I did enjoy the movie, but it didn't leave me quite satisfied. The story was still lacking in some areas. It was very drawn out and probably could have ended a lot quicker. The overall tone was quaint and quiet. There isn't a dramatically high emotional rollercoaster. The biggest climax was arguably Masato's drunken fit which I thought was awkwardly portrayed. For some reason, Saitoh Takumi's performance in this movie was very lacking. At times it felt stiff and lacked the genuine curiosity that Masato's character would have as a stranger in Singapore. Even when Masato visits the museum of Singaporean history and listens to an audio clip about the atrocities of war, I expected more emotion. There should have been this uncomfortable silence and anguish on Masato's face as he finally understood why Madam Lee's attitude towards Kazuo was so hostile.
In an attempt to also weave family history, they wrote it so that an ancestor had perished during the Japanese occupation and Madam Lee had to hold up the family business all by herself. Making her this headstrong woman creates a foil between her and Mei Lian. The comparison of Mei Lian to the goddess Guan Yin seemed a little too cliche for my tastes. It draws on a very general idea of compassion and kindness. Perhaps it is to point to Mei Lian's more gentle nature, but she too had her pride. Mei Lian never told her family of the illness that plagued her and it was never specified in the movie what it was.
My last gripe is why change the movie title from Ramen Teh to Ramen Shop? The movie is less about building a business and more about the symbolism behind the dish. Ramen teh is a symbolic culmination of Masato's heritage and his parents' wishes. His success in creating the dish is being able to find that harmony that brought his parents together. While through the eyes of Masato it is his journey to connect the dots about his family, at the very crux it is a story of love.
Food is the other star of the film. It is highly symbolic throughout the film representing Masato's identity and reconciliation with his extended family. It is also metaphorically nourishing as it heals all the pain left from the past. With a movie based on food, it is less on the food and more on what it does to its characters.
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