“Just an old guy doing what he knows.” This is how self-taught ramen master Masamoto Ueda describes himself, his culinary approach and, ultimately, his mantra.

We have seen subjects like Ueda highlighted before; the next food trend is just waiting to be discovered in the chefs and restaurateurs who operate regardless of prevalent trends – any YouTube video from Munchies or First We Feast will tell you this. But as is offered in the comfort foods that these videos so regularly document, so too is there a sort of “comfort” to be found in these videos themselves. Come Back Anytime from director John Daschbach is a documentary that recognizes this precise comfort factor, opting to curtail any sign of conflict that might define the traditional story and instead ladling out content of a purely warm, hearty, and heartwarming nature.

The film’s subject is small—microscopic when compared to the big, searing questions explored by other documentaries—but you’ve got to get small to get down to the meat of things. Masamoto Ueda (affectionately referred to as “Master” by his friends) is a senior man who runs the tiny ramen bar Bizentei in Tokyo, Japan. He developed his recipes after reading a book on ramen, and has since made his chops known simply by remaining steadfast to his craft, doing the same thing “over and over for the last forty years.” His regulars, whose interview footage laces much of Daschbach’s film, are able to characterize his ramen best: soy-based soup; clear, meaty broth; thin, curly noodles; gentle flavours. Remarkably, little of this talk veers into lofty claims of Ueda’s ramen being the “best.” What is “best”— or what defines the “best” — seems to be of little concern to Bizentei’s patrons; what matters is that the ramen speaks to them.

Like all good food documentaries, Come Back Anytime is really about the people behind the food and how the food fits right into the lives of those it touches. Much of the film culls its footage from within the four walls of Ueda’s 10-person capacity bar, but Ueda’s stories take us to his organic garden outside of the city, as well as his camping trips where he and his friends dig for wild yams. Masamoto’s wife, Kazuko, has worked alongside her husband throughout the entirety of his ramen career, but the job security that Bizentei has afforded her has encouraged her to take up her passion of painting. Also featured in the film are a married couple who describe having first met at Bizentei, and a woman who found solace in the restaurant after suffering a great loss. Daschbach gives all of these stories room to breath, while also doing his diligence and routing things back to lovingly rendered footage of the delicious product in question. A jazz piano score reminiscent of the work of Miyazaki mainstay Joe Hisaishi colours the film throughout, even if used a little excessively.

With a title like Come Back Anytime, one would think Ueda’s career goals extend beyond his generation and his lifetime, but interestingly, the aged proprietor makes it very clear to Daschbach that Bizentei lives and dies with him – he has no heir. If anything, this is the only “controversy” that characterizes Daschbach’s documentary – a reckoning with the end, a tinge of melancholy for something that cannot last. Each section of the film is prefaced by a season, a reminder that time passes and that spring eventually turns into winter. But Ueda seems to have made peace with this reality long ago. Come Back Anytime is about savouring the time that we have, and about the community that savours with you when the time you have made for yourself is a product of passion, love, and play.

Ueda’s Bizentei represents the smallest and humblest of Japanese institutions, a cozy little haunt where your friends gather and your favourite meal is doled out steaming hot and fresh as can be. Daschbach’s documentary recognizes the small weight and wonder that institutions like this can hold, and mulls lovingly over every component that it has to offer. It also keeps its scope rested firmly on Ueda’s circle; only through a few interviews is there ever any mention of other ramen operations. Ramen has proven itself a worldwide food trend today, sure, but Come Back Anytime smartly keeps its story sealed in its own little bubble. It is about one man’s ramen and the life that ramen sustains – there is comfort in this bubble.

Hot Docs 2021 | "Come Back Anytime": A Ramen Documentary All About Comfort