Jason Sakaki | Ramen Boys / 2025

the lifeguard delivers up the slipper

by Douglas Messerli

 

Jason Sakaki (screenwriter and director) Ramen Boys / 2025 [13 minutes]

 

Canadian director Jason Sakaki’s Ramen Boys is a charming but absolutely empty-headed comedy about a recently out Asian boy, Kevin (Brendan Koyanagi), desperately—although maybe not so hopelessly—looking for a dream lover to just walk down his street one day, enter is house, and sweep him off his feet.

    He even lays out his summer’s dreams to his bestie female friend, Marianna Zouzoulas, who when she expresses in her incredulity he explains that he has already spotted a hunky lifeguard James (Johnny Wu) to passes by the house every day at about 3:00. Having questioned him about why he hasn’t called out to him, this Rapunzel in his tower, realizes it is about 3:00 once again, and rushes to his balcony.

    Finally he does call out, but when the lifeguard (recognized as a pool guard by his T-shirt) doesn’t hear him, he tosses a slipper at him, attempting to cover up his blatant come-on making up a story about a huge insect which he was attempting to kill.

    Still, his ludicrous story works like a charm, as the lifeguard visits him to return the shoe. Within minutes, our crazy gay hero has discovered that the big-chested savior is not gay—happily discerning, however, that he is “bi”—and is ready to serve him up a meal of Ramen, the lifeguard quoting Lady Gaga’s off-hand observation: “There could be a hundred Asians in the room, and 99 don’t believe in using a kettle for the ramen. But all it takes is just one who believes.” Even James has to agree that Kevin’s kettle heated ramen is quite special.

    And within moments both boys, feeling it has been very difficult to find the right person who really cares, find themselves kissing and falling in love.

    The film ends in a truly meandering and meaningless scene in which, after Kevin summarizes his wonderful summer with James, the female bestie Marianna begins to explain her special summer with a Greek boy.

     This is lite, very lite fair with a fair amount of cliches and one zinger about Asians meeting up with white gay boys. Most of the white boys who are attracted to Asians, the concur, have just returned from Japan showing pictures of them in a kimono. But these young men are so attractive that you’re happy they’ve found love. Too bad it couldn’t have been in a more intelligent movie.

 

Los Angeles, February 24, 2026 | Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog (February 2026).