The Ramen Girl (2008)

“The Ramen Girl’ is a light-hearted, yet intriguing movie. Brittany Murphy stars as Abby, an American tourist in Tokyo who is left by her boyfriend.

Abby hates her copy editing job in Tokyo as she gets very few assignments. She begins to feel her life has very little substance. One night she steps into a ramen noodle restaurant near her apartment. She falls apart and starts crying, only to be surrounded by those who speak a foreign language. The owner and chef of the restaurant tries to console her, somewhat hesitantly, with a bowl of ramen noodle soup.

The old cranky chef, played by Toshiyuki Nishida, later takes Abby on as an apprentice cook. She’s met with much criticism and a foreign language she has difficulty ever understanding. Somehow without the understanding of words, some meanings are understood.

To Abby’s surprise and delight, she meets a young Japanese man who captures her attention and later, her heart.

Abby wants to go outside the box and make ramen noodle soup her way. In the process, she learns more about life and herself.

“The Ramen Girl”–with Japanese subtitles–is rather slow-paced, but I found it to be a very charming and enjoyable movie. There are a lot of life lessons underneath the surface.