Customer Reviews

Tampopo

5 star:		(106)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

...you will love this movie for it explores (with hysterical results) why food becomes such an important touchstone in life.

Truck driver Goro and Gun are in search of some good eats and run into a widow who is trying to run a ramen shop. Unfortunately, she's not doing too well so Goro and some unlikely guides offer her some sage advice and help her on her way to becoming a true ramenista. The story is punctuated with some vignettes about the "social aspects" of eating and our behavior with food.


THIS EDITION NOTES: This is a "no-frills" deal with the bear minimum of subtitle options and the movie's original trailer. Although Amazon is listing the zone playability as "unknown" the jacket lists it as ALL ZONES. It played on our ancient Zenith DVD player which can only handle zone 1 DVDs and nothing else. Picture is good, but sound quality is poor. However, its definitely worth the price to see this wonderful movie once again!

There are any number of very funny scenes in this lightly plotted and highly episodic romantic comedy from acclaimed Japanese director Juzo Itami. You may recall him as the guy who got in trouble with the Yakuza, the Japanese "mafia," because they didn't like the way he made fun of them in Minbo no onna (1992). You may also know that he committed suicide at the age of 64 in 1997 after being accused of adultery. He is the son of samurai film maker Mansaku Itami. I mention this since one of the things satirized here are samurai films.

But--and perhaps this is the secret of Itami's success both in Japan and elsewhere--the satire is done with a light, almost loving touch. Even though he also takes dead aim at spaghetti westerns and the Japanese love affair with food, especially their predilection for fast food noodle soup, at no time is there any rancor or ugliness in his treatment.

If you've seen any Itami film you will be familiar with his star, his widow, Nobuko Miyamoto, she of the very expressive face, who is perhaps best known for her role as the spirited tax collector in Itami's The Taxing Woman (1987) and The Taxing Woman Returns (1988). She has appeared in all of his films. Here she is Tampopo ("Dandelion"), a not entirely successful proprietor of a noodle restaurant. Along comes not Jones but Tsutmu Yamazaki as Goro, a kind of true grit, but big-hearted Japanese urban cowboy. He ambles up to the noodle bar and before long establishes himself as a kind of John Wayne hero intent on teaching Tampopo how the good stuff is made. Along the way Itami makes fun of stuffy bureaucrats, macho Japanese males, heroic death scenes, Japanese princesses attempting to acquire a European eating style, movie fight scenes, and God knows what else.

The comedy is bizarre at times. The sexual exchange of an egg yoke between the man in the white suit (Koji Yakusho) and his mistress (Fukumi Kuroda) might make you laugh or it might just gross you out. The enthusiastic description of the "yam sausages" from inside a wild boar is strange. Surely one is not salivating at such an entre, but one can imagine that such a "delicacy" might surely exist and have its devotees.

Indeed an Itami film has a kind of logic all its own. An exemplary scene is that of the stressed and dying mother of two young children, who is ordered by her husband to "Get up and cook!" This (reasonably relevant) scene is juxtaposed with the one with the college professor which is about being and getting ripped off--which seems to have little to do with the rest of the movie, yet somehow seems appropriate, perhaps only because they are at a restaurant. Another typical Itami scene is the businessmen at supper. They hem and haw until their chief orders and then they all pretend to debate and consider, and then order exactly the same thing except for one brash young guy who dazzles (and embarrasses) the old sycophantic guys by order a massive meal in French with all the trimmings.

The climax of the film comes with plenty of musical fanfare. As Goro and others sit down at the counter, they are served Tampopo's final culinary creation, the noodle soup now hopefully honed to perfection. As the tension mounts, a musical accompaniment, reminiscent of something like the clock ticking in High Noon (1952), rises to a crescendo. All the while Tampopo sweats and frets and prays that she will triumph, which will be in evidence if, and only if, they drain their soup bowls! (Do they?)

The final credits roll (after some further misdirections and some further burlesque) over a most endearing and ultimately touching shot of a young mother with a beautiful and contented infant feeding at her breast.

Perhaps this was Itami's best film.

I've owned the VHS version of this movie for several years and recently purchased the DVD (October 2000). I immediately noticed the improved clarity of the picture and heard sounds that I hadn't heard before on the VHS video. I enjoyed it even more - the picture was crisp and the soundtrack clear. This letterbox edition allows the subtitles to be turned off and contains a list of all the productions that Itami, Yamazaki, and Miyamoto were involved. I held off buying it due to the bad ratings some gave the quality of this DVD, but the version I got was great! If you've spent time in Japan, the zany humor really comes through, such as the group of businessmen in the New Otani Hotel French restaurant all ordering the same thing until the least senior of the group is reached. Even if you haven't lived there, it's an original film with an original approach to cinematography. As one of my favorite films from Japan, I give it 5 stars both on the movie and the DVD.

"Tampopo" is one of those rare films that just...works. Every piece of it is perfect, combining to form a more flavorful whole, like a well-made dish of ramen noodles. Itami was inspired for this film, and it is easily one of the best Japanese films ever made.

Japanese culture is filled with a love of food. Japanese travel brochures are filled, not with pretty sights and adventures, but with photos of local delicacies and dishes. Food questing is a popular hobby, with each person knowing a local favorite shop, or a master chef. Restaurants also tend to specialize, often serving only one dish such as ramen or udon noodles. "Tampopo" perfectly captured this national obsession, creating a story that is undeniable Japanese. Goro and Tampopo's search for the perfect broth, the most delicious way to cut meat and such is an honest and charming portrayal.

There is plenty going on in this film, with the sexual subplot of the gangster and his lover exchanging food and sex, or the young executive fluent in French cuisine. Each vignette forwards the tone. Along with this is the marriage of the samurai and the cowboy in the character of Goro, and the delicate strength of Tampopo herself.

You really can't go wrong with this film.

This is on my top ten list of the funniest, most delightful movies of all time. The main plot line is a loving satire of the "adult" western of the fifties - "Shane" in particular - where the hero drifts into town, helps the poor widow get her life together and beat the bad guys, then drifts out again. Tampopo, the heroine, must make the best noodle soup in town to overcome the villainous other noodle houses.

But what makes this movie extraordinary are the vignettes, both within the plot-line and outside it, that mingle food, sex, cultural hangups, life and death in hilarious and sometimes very touching combinations.

The movie succeeds not only because of its marvellous material and fine actors but also through excellent direction and cinematography. For example, the scene toward the end where Tampopo & Goro are eating companionably in a restaurant: notice the camera movement from the food to the people; the positions of the actors conveying clearly the ambiguity of the relationship and their attitudes to each other; how at times Goro actually has his back to the camera; the cut to the symbolic passing train, nicely understated; the whole scene is an example of effective simplicity in movie-making.

This movie is ultimately unclassifiable; it is itself, funny, sad (sometimes both at once), shocking, absorbing; but above all funny. I have never seen another film quite like it, and it stays in the memory like the best of Fellini.

I caught this film by accident on satellite, watched it a minimum of 5 times and rented it twice. Now I'm purchasing it, I have to have it that bad! Having lived in Japan (I have family there), I'm well aquainted with the casual ramen restaurants literally on every corner. This movie presents an insider's view of the actual workings behind the counter along with vignettes of ties between food, sex, death, manners, loyalty, crime, etc. The connection between the milk of human kindness (the mother breastfeeding) and the milk truck driver who assists Tampopo seems to have slipped most people.
Being pretty fluent in Japanese, I have to comment that the subtitles are not all accurate but...a great movie nonetheless!

This is a Japanese cult film and one which has had serious traction in the West. It contains the roots of the modern Iron Chef series and is a jewel in which is reflected many of the common-or-garden mores that make Japan such a rich and wonderful place. It is a must-see and will not be easily forgotten.

It is a journey to mastery of ramen making and in this, a journey toward mastery itself. Tampopo, a 'noob' noodle chef, enlists the help of expert advisers one-by-one as she assembles the skills necessary to make a compelling ramen noodle soup in the competitive environment of Japanese ramen-ya (ramen noodle shops). Along the way she steals, bribes and cheats with the support of her advisers but, as the goal is honuorable, in good Japanese (and indeed in other nations') style, the ends justify the means.

Apart from yielding the best ramen imaginable, the film is interspersed with a myriad of vignettes - all food related but otherwise unrelated apart from being elements of Japanese idiosyncrasy. These vary from an old lady who sneaks into delis to squeeze the food with a naughty abandon and then to be chased out by the bemused/confused staff to fabulous sequences with the young Iron Chef chairman as a food obsessed gangster exchanging the yolk of an egg in a kiss with his equally food obsessed lover (the roots of the Iron Chef series are clearly present in this film so if you love food ....).

This is a wonderful film. It holds people for years after viewing with each remembering a different element of beauty. It drew me back after 20 years and I had to find it and see it again. Having just done this (and I cooked ramen to go with the viewing!), it lives up the memory!

Alexander Roche

This is a masterful movie by director Juzo Itami. It is a story of the truck-drivin' cowboy Goro who strolls into town, sets things right and rides off into the sunset. Rather than kill the bad guys however, he helps a widow become sucessful running her late husbands ramen shop. Itami lends a mosiaic quality to the movie with many character sketches about food's pervasive influence on human behaviour. Tsutomu Yamazaki who plays Goro, and Nobuko Miyamoto who plays Tampopo, both from Itami's "A Taxing Woman", give wonderful performaces. The DVD contains a complete filmography that is a great window into Itami's other works. The DVD is letterbox and looks good. The sound is 3-channel, Japanese only with English subtitles selectable. The timing on the subtitles is at times sloppy, which is too bad since it is a subtitle-only release. I would have liked very much to see directors commentary but language may have restricted this. The DVD gets 4 stars for minor subtitle issues, and lack of more deluxe treatment, but I give the story, and my review, 5 stars. This is really a must have, in a decent package for a foreign film.

It can be very difficult to describe this movie and what the premise or plot is. Oh, there is the central plot, make no mistake, but the entirity of the film is a flurry of sub-stories and vignettes that act like ingredients to the ever-present ramen (Japanese noodle soup) otherwise known as this brilliant gem out of Japan. The bottom line, the final product is a fancifal tale based around food and how our lives are encompassed by it, how we struggle with it, and most importantly how integral it is to human beings on the whole.

Tampopo also is an homage film to a few genres depending on the scene. For example, Goro (an obvious samurai reference) drives into town on a truck... with cow horns on the top! He wears the cowboy hat constantly and those themes are as thick as the noodles he's seeking out. There is also a tribute to Chaplin/Keaton and the silent comedies with one of the vagabonds in his efforts to make a rice omelette. There are a few mob movie shots as well, including the semi-narrator or guide of the man in the white suit. Beyond celebrating these genres, though, as well as film itself, this really is a story about food.

Tampopo is a widowed soup cook who can't really make soup. Ramen, one of the staple Japanese foods, is as varied and unique in stores throughout the town as there are chicken soup recipes in the US. She can't seem to make a good bowl, though, and Goro feeling bad for her, decides to stay on and help her out with the help of his sidekick Gun. Along the way, they pick up a colorful band of characters each with his own addition to the recipe and technique that helps Tampopo understand the importance of finding that perfect bowl of Ramen.

Light-hearted, more than a bit hilarious, and full of twists and turns, Tampopo is definitely one of the best movies to come out of Japan. Aside from comedy or possibly drama, one would be hard-pressed to try to define this movie as the movie more defines itself and others like it. A life story for sure, definitely a good laugh, and a little eye-opening at times, too. Not for children, though, as there is some nudity and minor violence. Film buffs should already own this movie and anyone else who has a love of film or a desire for one of the most fun movies ever made, pick this one up. You will not be disappointed. Enjoy!

Terrific film! I agree with the other 5-star ratings here. One thing that professional movie reviewers missed was that the musical score for Tampopo is Liszt's Les Preludes (based on a poem by Alphonse de Lamartine). "What else is life but a series of preludes to that unknown hymn, the first and solemn note of which is intoned by Death?" is how Liszt introduced his piece. Itami chose his music with careful deliberation!