One of the most well known dishes these days from Japan is Ramen. Most often seen as an easy affair or a quick lunch. But there’s so much behind Ramen. We went to watch this documentary at Cinemasia 2018 in Amsterdam to learn more about Japan’s number one Ramen chef Tomita Osamu, his restaurant located in Matsudo, China.
Name: Ramen heads
Also known as: ラーメンヘッズ (Rāmenhezzu)
Director: Koki Shigeno
Written by: Jo Sung Hee
Distributor: FilmBuff (2018) (USA) and Midship (2017) (Japan)
Release date: January 27, 2018
Running time: 93 minutes
Genre: Documentary
Synopsis
In ‘Ramen Heads,’ Osamu Tomita, Japan’s reigning king of ramen, takes us deep into his world, revealing every single step of his obsessive approach to creating the perfect soup and noodles, and his relentless search for the highest-quality ingredients. In addition to Tomita’s story, the film also profiles five other notable ramen shops, each with its own philosophy and flavour, which exemplify various different aspects the ramen world. Mixing in a brief rundown of ramen’s historical roots, the film gives viewers an in-depth look at the culture surrounding this unique and beguiling dish. This is a documentary record of 15 months in the lives of Japan’s top ramen masters and their legions of devoted fans.
Review
This is solely a documentary, telling you how things became how they are now, how crazy people are for ramen and how very into passionate these ramen chefs are about their product but also how chefs differ from each other. They work their absolute hardest to create something seemingly simple into a work of art.
In the end he comes together with two other well know Ramen Chefs to create the most perfect 10 year anniversary ramen and people rush to buy tickets for it.
Many great mouth watering close ups of the food leaving you hungry for days and both Ramen heads and Tomita were making jokes and explaining a lot of things. This is now definitely the place on my list to go to for food when I visit Japan.
Conclusion
Grade: 8/10
Normally I wouldn’t really go see a documentary about food because..well usually you end up being hungry.. Which was the case this time aswell. But I really enjoyed it, I didn’t know half of the things behind Ramen and it’s absolutely fascinating to me. I recommend this to anyone who loves food or wants to know more about Japanese cuisine.
