Review of The Ramen Girl (2008) by Stuart L — 24 Oct 2009

This movie turned out to be much better than I expected. I'm not a fan of Brittany Murphy, and this movie did nothing to improve her reputation with me.

In terms of presenting cross-cultural conflict, I thought it did much better than Lost in Translation. I couldn't see the point in that movie. Despite having lived in Japan for 11 years (or maybe because of it), I couldn't relate to L in T at all.

The Ramen Girl was much more genuine, although Ms. Murphy's character was way off key. Nishida Toshiyuki and Yamazaki Tsutomu are two of my favorite Japanese actors, and they did not disappoint. The ramen shop denizens, too, seemed very familiar and real.

In all, a little better than not bad.