Japanese documentary ‘Ramen Heads’ extols the joy of slurping

Ramen is just noodles and broth, right? Well, no, it’s actually much more, as we learn in the entertaining Japanese documentary “Ramen Heads.” The dish has a fanatical following in Japan, where the movie’s central figure, Chef Osamu Tomita, is celebrated as the king of ramen.

He’s a tireless perfectionist who cooks up an incredibly rich — and unexpectedly thick — broth of many high-quality ingredients, which may include pig’s heads and several kinds of dried fish, boiling the concoction sometimes for days. The mixture of flours used in his handmade noodles varies by season, and the goal is “slurpability” — making noise while eating ramen is de rigueur.