We’re going loopy over a celebration of all things noodly at SBS Food this month and as it’s chilly out, we thought we’d warm your cockles with a selection of steaming broths packed with oodles of noodles to slurp while watching our some of our favourite films.
Noodles play a small but integral role in cinematic history, from Harrison Ford’s gruff Rick Deckard enjoying respite from the toxic rain of a choking dystopian future LA at a noodle shack in Ridley Scott’s seminal Blade Runner to the very precise ramen-eating instructions delivered to Ken Watanabe in Jûzô Itami’s Tampopo.
And who could forget the worms in Joel Schumacher’s The Lost Boys, spoofed in Taika Waititi’s fang sharp What We Do in the Shadows? Well, it’s probably best you don’t recall those gross out clips, as we don’t want to put you off your noodles.
Here are six of our favourite noodle cameos at SBS On Demand
Israeli director writer/director Israeli director also features a young Chinese boy nicknamed Noodle (BaoQi Chen) who is accidentally abandoned when his housekeeper mother (Vicky Lyn), is forcibly removed from the country. That leaves him in the care of airhostess Miri (Mili Avital) who tries to reunite them against all the odds while resorting to countless noodle box takeaway dinners. A feel good, feel sad movie with a heap of heart, you’ll need a comfort bowl of char hoon. Watch it here.
Nominated for the Golden Bear at the 2006 Berlin International Film Festival, Pang Ho-Cheung’s odd couple movie is a character-driven cracker set during Portugal’s handover of Macau back to the People’s Republic of China. It stars Chapman To as Ma Chen-Shing, a crooked cop surprisingly redeemed by the sudden arrival of the long lost daughter (Isabella Leong) he never knew he had. Look out for Anthony Chau-Sang Wong chomping on noodles like a boss as Chen-Shing’s superior. Watch it below or on On Demand here.
An off-the-wall comic mockumentary ribbing Japan’s stock in trade of giant rampaging monster movies, stand aside Godzilla for the misunderstood Big Man Japan. Writer/director and star Hitoshi Matsumoto plays cranky old lonely man Daisatô, who gets little credit for his efforts transforming into a towering champion to fend of other deadpan irritable invaders thanks to the collateral damage he causes, Team America-style while fighting the likes of this noodle-like behemoth. He definitely needs a nourishing bowl of Tonkutso Ramen. Watch it below or on On Demand here.
Never piss off the housekeeper is the moral of Im Sang-soo's furiously unsubtle but ferociously funny update on the Kim Ki-young classic of Korean cinema. When Jeon Do-yeon’s hard-working Eun-yi is hard done to by her philandering boss after ditching her noodle shop job to take up residence in their palatial home, she gets even with maniacal glee. With big sets, bigger sex appeal and the biggest melodrama, why not heat things up with this spicy noodle salad? Watch it here or on SBS On Demand.
A fascinating insight into the true-life story ofNong Toom, the trans woman Muay Thai boxer, played by fellow real life boxer Asanee Suwan, who competes in the ring to pay for her gender reassignment operation, Thai writer/director Ekachai Uekrongtham’s Beautiful Boxer makes for an incredibly moving biopic. There’s a beautiful scene when an older trans woman and former beauty queen who now runs a noodle stall helps the young Toom, then a monk novice, on her way. Watch it here or on SBS On Demand.
Revered Japanese writer/director/star Takeshi Kitano completes his hyper-violent yakuza trilogy with the seriously OTT Tokyo gang warfare movie Outrage, nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. If you baulked at the noodle worms in The Lost Boys, just wait until you see a noodle cook offed with a pair of chopsticks in the ear and see if you still fancy some Miso-grilled salmon with soba then? Watch it here or on SBS On Demand
Throughout August, SBS Food celebrates Asia's love of the noodle. Oodles of Noodles includes delicious new recipes, stories and tips for buying, cooking and storing noodles. Find out more here.
