RAMEN FILMS AT THE ROYAL
Free admission, RSVP required, all films in Japanese with English subtitles http://www.universe.com/tampopo

Join us for a mini-series of films about RAMEN co-presented by the Japan Foundation, Toronto and the Royal Cinema. This series examines all that is Ramen with great stories about the chefs who make it, and the people who enjoy eating this popular noodle and soup combination. After watching these films, you’ll want to warm up to a tasty bowl of Ramen!

RAMEN SHOP 家族のレシピ (March 5)
Directed by Eric Khoo 2018, 90 min. [Drama]

In Takasaki, Japan, Masato works with his father to run their ramen shop. Despite living together, their strained relationship makes communication stifled and sparse. When Masato finds his mother’s diary filled with recipes, memories, and entries written in Chinese—a language foreign to him—he decides to visit Singapore to uncover and relive his mother’s history. Working his way through Singapore’s food landscape, Masato stumbles across something much more personal than discovering family recipes, secrets, and stories. Instead, he comes across connections and meaning to his existence long buried and thought to be best forgotten.

Eric Khoo’s latest film, Ramen Shop, delves into the myriad of ways food permeates our lives whether it is the taste of a mother’s cooking, a reminder of an indigestible history, or the togetherness of sharing food. Ramen Shop is a story about belonging, reunions, and burdensome knowledge alongside a bowl of bak kut teh noodle soup.

TAMPOPO タンポポ (March 12)
Directed by ITAMI Juzo 1985, 115 min. [Comedy Drama]

RAMEN CLASSIC NOT TO BE MISSED! Tampopo is the tale of an eccentric band of culinary ronin who guide the widow of a noodle-shop owner on her quest for the perfect recipe, this rapturous “ramen western” by Japanese director Juzo Itami is an entertaining, genre-bending adventure underpinned by a deft satire of the way social conventions distort the most natural of human urges—our appetites. Interspersing the efforts of Tampopo (Nobuko Miyamoto) and friends to make her café a success with the erotic exploits of a gastronome gangster and glimpses of food culture both high and low, the sweet, sexy, and surreal Tampopo is a lavishly inclusive paean to the sensual joys of nourishment, and one of the most mouthwatering examples of food on film ever made.

PLEASE NOTE: Because this screening is free, please arrive by 8 PM or your ticket will open up to oversold & rush tickets!