The Ramen Girl
Encyclopedia
The Ramen Girl is an American-Japanese movie starring Brittany Murphy
Brittany Murphy
Brittany Anne Murphy-Monjack , known professionally as Brittany Murphy, was an American actress and singer. She starred in films such as Clueless, Just Married, Girl Interrupted, Spun, 8 Mile, Uptown Girls, Sin City, Happy Feet, and Riding in Cars with Boys...

 about a girl who goes to Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 and decides to learn how to cook ramen
Ramen
is a Japanese noodle dish. It consists of Chinese-style wheat noodles served in a meat- or fish-based broth, often flavored with soy sauce or miso, and uses toppings such as , , kamaboko, green onions, and occasionally corn...

.

Plot

Abby (Brittany Murphy
Brittany Murphy
Brittany Anne Murphy-Monjack , known professionally as Brittany Murphy, was an American actress and singer. She starred in films such as Clueless, Just Married, Girl Interrupted, Spun, 8 Mile, Uptown Girls, Sin City, Happy Feet, and Riding in Cars with Boys...

) is an American girl who goes to Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

 to be with her boyfriend, Ethan. Ethan tells her that he has to go to Osaka
Osaka
is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...

 on a business trip and may not be back for a while. Abby asks to go with him but Ethan refuses and breaks up with her. Abby goes to a ramen
Ramen
is a Japanese noodle dish. It consists of Chinese-style wheat noodles served in a meat- or fish-based broth, often flavored with soy sauce or miso, and uses toppings such as , , kamaboko, green onions, and occasionally corn...

 shop afterward, and the chef Maezumi (Toshiyuki Nishida
Toshiyuki Nishida
is a Japanese actor. Outside of Japan, Nishida is best known for his portrayal of Pigsy in the TV series Monkey.Toshiyuki Nishida has received ten Japanese Academy Award nominations, winning twice, for Dun-Huang in 1988 and Gakko and Tsuribaka Nisshi 6 in 1993...

) and his wife Reiko (Kimiko Yo) tell her that they are closed, but Abby doesn't understand them on account of her inability to speak Japanese. She starts to cry, so the chef communicates to her that she should sit down. He brings her a bowl of Ramen, and she loves it. A small distance away, she hallucinates that the lucky cat, known as the Maneki Neko, or Beckoning Cat, gestures to her to come over. She offers to pay for her meal, but the chef and his wife refuse.

The next day, she comes back, and sits down at the counter. He gives her another bowl of ramen and she eats. As she eats, she breaks into uncontrollable giggles, as does another patron. The following day she returns, but is told they are out of ramen. Seeing the wife's swollen ankles, she insists on helping instead. After the night is through, she is passed out asleep in the back. They shoo her out, but as she is walking away she realizes she wants to cook ramen. Rushing back into the store, she begs him to teach her how to cook ramen. He argues, but finally gives in and tells her to come the next day at 5. She shows up late, in high heels and a dress, and is put to work scrubbing the toilet and cleaning pots and pans. In the following weeks Maezumi only gives her cleaning work in the hopes that she quits, but she comes back. After she is given work as a waitress, she wins the hearts of all who come in, including two older women who are regular customers, and a middle aged male regular who develops a crush on her.

On a rare night off, she heads to a night club, where she meets Toshi Iwamoto (Sohee Park
Sohee Park
Sohee Park is a stage, film, and television actor. He is Zainichi Korean active in the Japanese and American market.-Biography:...

), and they fall in love. But soon, Toshi has to go to Shanghai, China for three years. He asks Abby to come with him, but she declines, saying she can't. They share their last kiss.

Abby soon learns how to make ramen, but Maezumi insists that it has no soul. Maezumi's mother tastes her ramen and tells her, in Japanese, that she is cooking with her head, and that she should put tears in her ramen, as she has no love to share. Later in the film, she is shown cooking ramen, crying. The two ladies, and the middle-aged man and another old man taste her ramen and almost immediately become melancholic. Maezumi tastes it, and starts to cry, but goes upstairs to his home.

One day, Maezumi talks with a rival, who brags about his son having a master chef come to taste his ramen while ridiculing Maezumi for trying to train Abby. Maezumi, drunk, says that her ramen will receive the Master Chef's blessing, or he'll stop making ramen. The Master arrives, and tastes the young man's ramen. He gives him his blessing, and goes on to Abby. Abby has strayed from the safety of conventional ramen, and made hers with peppers and corn. The Master says Abby's noodles are good, but he cannot give her his blessing, saying that she needs more time and restraint. Maezumi is sad to have to stop his business, but talks to Abby. He tells her about his son wanting to learn French cooking, but she does not understand. He tells her that the ramen shop needs a successor, and that she is the successor of his ramen shop. She leaves for America soon, but before that, has a celebration. Maezumi gives her the lantern
Traditional lighting equipment of Japan
The traditional lighting equipment of Japan includes the andon , the bonbori , the chōchin , and the tōrō .-Andon:...

 that had hung outside his ramen shop for 45 years, and she takes it to America with her, where it is shown a year later outside her shop in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, appropriately named The Ramen Girl. The shop hangs a photo of Maezumi and his wife with their son happily in Paris. Then, an employee of hers tells her about a man wanting to see her. It is Toshi.

He says he hated his job and that he decided to do what she would do: quit his job and go back to what he loved - writing music. She welcomes him to her ramen shop and they kiss.

Reception

Film critic Don Willmott describes The Ramen Girl as "a vacuous but atmospheric analysis of the redemptive power of a good bowl of noodles" in which "The Karate Kid meets Tampopo
Tampopo
is a 1985 Japanese comedy film by director Juzo Itami, starring Tsutomu Yamazaki, Nobuko Miyamoto and Ken Watanabe. The publicity for the film calls it the first ramen western, a play on the term Spaghetti Western .-Plot summary:Tampopo begins when a pair of truck drivers, an experienced one named...

meets Babette's Feast
Babette's Feast
Babette's Feast is a 1987 Danish film directed by Gabriel Axel. The film's screenplay was written by Axel based on the story by Isak Dinesen , who also wrote the story which inspired the 1985 Academy Award winning film Out of Africa...

."

There is no critical reception from top critics such as Roger Ebert or Gene Shallit. One critic on RottenTomatoes said that "It's lovely and sweet and just gosh darn huggable, and if the plot trips up along the way, we're easy to forgive.". The only reception was from RottenTomatoes community, and received a 46%, counting with 1148 reviews.

Cast

  • Brittany Murphy
    Brittany Murphy
    Brittany Anne Murphy-Monjack , known professionally as Brittany Murphy, was an American actress and singer. She starred in films such as Clueless, Just Married, Girl Interrupted, Spun, 8 Mile, Uptown Girls, Sin City, Happy Feet, and Riding in Cars with Boys...

     as Abby, the main character.
  • Toshiyuki Nishida
    Toshiyuki Nishida
    is a Japanese actor. Outside of Japan, Nishida is best known for his portrayal of Pigsy in the TV series Monkey.Toshiyuki Nishida has received ten Japanese Academy Award nominations, winning twice, for Dun-Huang in 1988 and Gakko and Tsuribaka Nisshi 6 in 1993...

     as Maezumi, Abby's Sensei
    Sensei
    ' is a Japanese word that basically means "person born before another." In general usage, it means "master" or "teacher," and the word is used as a title to refer to or address teachers, professors, professionals such as lawyers, CPA and doctors, politicians, clergymen, and other figures of authority...

    , and the ramen chef.
  • Sohee Park
    Sohee Park
    Sohee Park is a stage, film, and television actor. He is Zainichi Korean active in the Japanese and American market.-Biography:...

     as Toshi Iwamoto, Abby's friend (soon boyfriend)
  • Tammy Blanchard
    Tammy Blanchard
    Tammy Blanchard is an American actress. She has worked primarily in films and television, making her professional start in the soap opera Guiding Light...

     as Gretchen, Abby's friend
  • Kimiko Yo as Reiko, Maezumi's wife.
  • Tsutomu Yamazaki as Grand Master
  • Renji Ishibashi as Udagawa
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