Food is sustenance, food is pleasure and, as Eric Khoo¡¯s nostalgia-drenched ¡°Ramen Shop¡± reminds us, food is memory.
The last is not often seen in Japanese foodie movies, which tend to focus on the hero¡¯s arduous journey to mastery of a culinary art.
So when the film, which premiered at last year¡¯s Berlin International Film Festival, began with an emotionally distant father (Tsuyoshi Ihara) and dutiful adult son (Takumi Saito) making ramen together at the former¡¯s shop, I imagined yet another fraught drama about the older generation teaching the younger how to make the perfect bowl of noodles.
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