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Tampopo (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]

Nobuko Miyamoto (Actor), Juzo Itami (Director) Rated:

Format: Blu-ray

4.8 880 ratings

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Genre	Comedy
Format	Subtitled, Widescreen
Contributor	Juzo Itami, Nobuko Miyamoto
Language	Japanese
Runtime	1 hour and 54 minutes

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From the manufacturer

Juzo Itami’s offbeat, outrageously sexy, long-unavailable “ramen western”

The tale of an eccentric band of culinary ronin who guide the widow of a noodle-shop owner on her quest for the perfect recipe, this rapturous “ramen western” by Japanese director Juzo Itami is an entertaining, genre-bending adventure underpinned by a deft satire of the way social conventions distort the most natural of human urges—our appetites.

Interspersing the efforts of Tampopo (Nobuko Miyamoto) and friends to make her café a success with the erotic exploits of a gastronome gangster and glimpses of food culture both high and low, the sweet, sexy, and surreal Tampopo is a lavishly inclusive paean to the sensual joys of nourishment, and one of the most mouthwatering examples of food on film ever made.

“A weird, mouthwatering masterpiece . . . Itami piles every ingredient imaginable into his bowl, but who cares? It’s delicious, and you’ll slurp up every bite.”

—Dan Kois, Slate

Special Features

New 4K digital restoration
A 90-minute documentary on the making of the film
New interview with actor Nobuko Miyamoto
New interview with food stylist Seiko Ogawa ramen scholar Hiroshi Oosaki
New interview with chefs Sam White, Rayneil De Guzman, Jerry Jaksich, and Ivan Orkin
Itami’s 1962 debut short film
And more

Product Description

Review

The tale of an eccentric band of culinary ronin who guide the widow of a noodle shop owner on her quest for the perfect recipe, this rapturous “ramen western” by Japanese director Juzo Itami is an entertaining, genre-bending adventure underpinned by a deft satire of the way social conventions distort the most natural of human urges, our appetites. Interspersing the efforts of Tampopo (Nobuko Miyamoto) and friends to make her café a success with the erotic exploits of a gastronome gangster and glimpses of food culture both high and low, the sweet, sexy, and surreal Tampopo is a lavishly inclusive paean to the sensual joys of nourishment, and one of the most mouthwatering examples of food on film ever made.

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
The Making of “Tampopo,” a ninety-minute documentary from 1986, narrated by director Juzo Itami
New interview with actor Nobuko Miyamoto
New interviews with ramen scholar Hiroshi Osaki; food stylist Seiko Ogawa; and American chefs Sam White, Rayneil De Guzman, Jerry Jaksich, and Anthony Bourdain
Rubber Band Pistol, Itami’s 1962 debut short film
New video essay by Tony Zhou and Taylor Ramos on the film’s themes of self-improvement and mastery of a craft
Trailer
New English subtitle translation
PLUS: An essay by food and culture writer Willy Blackmore

Product details

Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ NR (Not Rated)
Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 0.7 x 7.5 x 5.4 inches; 3.2 Ounces
Item model number ‏ : ‎ 43480058
Director ‏ : ‎ Juzo Itami
Media Format ‏ : ‎ Subtitled, Widescreen
Run time ‏ : ‎ 1 hour and 54 minutes
Release date ‏ : ‎ April 25, 2017
Actors ‏ : ‎ Nobuko Miyamoto
Subtitles: ‏ : ‎ English
Studio ‏ : ‎ Criterion Collection
ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01N6S6ICN
Country of Origin ‏ : ‎ USA
Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1

Best Sellers Rank: #7,033 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #620 in Comedy (Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews:
4.8 880 ratings

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4.8 out of 5

880 global ratings

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wiredweird

A personal favorite

Reviewed in the United States on October 27, 2022

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... and pairs nicely with Ramen Girl .

It's a cute story about a hard-working woman desperate to succeed in a business with cut-throat competition. A mysterious stranger appears on the scene. With no obvious reason for knowing so much, he teaches her the business, in every detail, calling on other improbable experts at points. The drill-sergeant approach has its comical moments. Of course, she's victorious in the end and the mysterious stranger [figuratively] rides off into the sunset.

The main story is intercut with snippets of side plots, including one involving a Yakuza and his lady of the moment. Removing that might have been an improvement. Despite that distraction, it remains a flick I enjoy immensely.

-- wiredweird

One person found this helpful

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Matt Jarvis

Besides being a delicious comedy it is a great commentary on Japanese culture

Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2016

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I first saw this film in a theater when I was in college then bought it on VHS. When I found it on DVD via Australia I had to buy it. Besides being a delicious comedy it is a great commentary on Japanese culture. If you want a linear tale this movie is not for you as it cuts between being a movie of a movie being shown (a ramen, not spaghetti western), the people watching the movie, and the previously mentioned commentary on Japanese culture and yet it is coherent, this is the magic of Juzo Itami.
It plays better on larger and newer (hd) televisions, almost like watching it in a theater again, which is important since it is supposed to be like you are in the theater with the Japanese audience watching the movie that is within the movie. All of the experience seems better than watching it on a smaller, older television from a VCR.
Yes there is a movie about a dandelion (tampopo) and ramen, you might even say it is a ramen jedi story as the traveling truckers do save the widow and her ramen restaurant from the bad guys and teach the widow and her son to stand on their own two feet and how to cook ramen just right. There is also the analysis, even the over analysis, of all things noodle and how the Japanese pride themselves in being more civilized with the noodle. But it is also the story of our movie watchers, the fated lovers (spoiler alert) who are at their last movie together. Unluckily Itami committed suicide so there are only a limited number of his movies and this is probably the best for westerners to be introduced to them. Once you watch this movie you will probably want to check his others like "A Taxing Woman" or "The Funeral". He definitely had a sense of humor and was intelligent.

30 people found this helpful

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pskils

Seconds, anyone?

Reviewed in the United States on October 12, 2013

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Juzo Itami's masterful film about life and food takes us on an innocent romp through a variety of vignettes which manage between them to describe a remarkably wide and insightful sampling of human behaviour.

Throwing a glance at the great Akira Kurosawa, and possibly a wry smile to William A. Wellman, Itami celebrates the great Western and Gangster genres by threading two plots through his irreverent patchwork of a film, but he does so as a way of creating reference points to keep the viewer from becoming confused and bewildered by what otherwise would be a series of shorts. Essentially Tampopo is a compilation of 5-10 minute shorts joined together by two stories of approximately 30 and 40 minutes. Yet this should deter nobody; there is something for everybody in Tampopo since we all love food and drama.

Both satire and irony abound in the rich soup of Tampopo, yet the film still carries many important messages, several of which suggest desirable things we can do with food in settings as diverse as the bedroom, a posh restaurant, the kitchen, and of course that staple of Japanese culinary life: the noodle shop.

Within this rich pastiche reside many original gems, including an explanation of the zen art of noodle eating, a sensually charged encounter with an oyster diver, and probably the most mouth-watering method of cooking eggs most viewers are likely to see. Note, the chef who prepares the eggs plays a vagabond off the streets, yet try to emulate his egg-cooking feat and my bet is it will take an experienced cook several attempts to get it right!

Fun, astute, entertaining and informative, Tampopo achieves a type of magic that happens all too rarely in the cinema: the audience walks out all smiles, abuzz with comments and stories, and feeling both energized and optimistic, if for no other reason than they now have a clear idea of what they'd like for dinner!

5 people found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

Quirky, good movie from Japan

Reviewed in the United States on September 7, 2014

Verified Purchase

This is one of those quirky movies that it seems only the Japanese can make. The film publicity calls it the first ramen western, riffing on the term spaghetti western, and is true to that for if you watch there are many western tropes, from the hat the 'hero' wears to the atmosphere, and, most amusingly, the last scene.

The main story is how a truck driving drifter and his buddy (Ken Watanabe in an early role), for reasons never really explained, become involved with the widowed proprietress of a noodle shop, a really bad noodle shop. This principal story is essentially a Cinderella story and is sweet to watch.

There are several vignettes along the way that have nothing to do with the principal story, all one-shot episodes 3-5 minutes but all focused somehow on food. There is one repeating vignette starring Koji Yakusho, who is described as an elegant gangster in a white suit and hat. He is most often with his girlfriend, the episodes are almost pornographic (so young children may need thier eyes covered, <snicker>) yet they also are moving in their way.

The actors are fun to watch, not only for the generally good acting but also because of who they are; Ken Watanabe, Koji Yakusho, Nobuko Miyamoto, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Toshiya Fujita - think Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson, a young Brad Pitt, Martin Scorsese, Robert DeNiro all doing a low budget film basically for the hell of it.

The movie is a paen to food and to eating. It's funny, heart warming and occasionally tear-inducing. Just remember when watching that these people are not American and that as such they don't have American sensibilities and reactions. But this is well worth watching.

11 people found this helpful

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PEREIRA Vincent

A tasty title

Reviewed in the United States on July 24, 2023

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Remarkable edition from Criterion. Once more

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Miranda

Genial

Reviewed in Mexico on December 13, 2022

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Buen empaque viene con un poster en el interior

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Amazon Customer

A classic...

Reviewed in Canada on August 10, 2022

Verified Purchase

When I first watched this movie during my university years, I loved it. It was so Monty Pythonie. Outrageous, with a tongue in cheek commentary on food and the various ways it is relished. The portions where Tampopo is being drilled like a martial artist/athlete is so funny. The various stories interweaving with each other was to me right out of a Monty Python style-book. While it is not to be taken too seriously, there are little gems that can be gleaned to take note of, or for your next culinary experience. Glad I bought it. As one of the reviewers mentioned, though, it is not a movie for the family. Or you could just skip those portions with your remote.

Remy

film japonais absolument génial

Reviewed in France on December 23, 2023

Verified Purchase

Comédie western sur la nourriture prenant place au Japon dans les années 80. Le petites scénettes sur la mort, le sexe, la famille sont très touchantes ou marrantes

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G.C.

Not just a ramen western

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 5, 2023

Verified Purchase

ore times without getting bored. When I went to college a lecturer screened clips of it to emphasise the importance of observation as a market research tool - a lesson that has stuck with me to this day. Decades later I get Tampopo on Blu-Ray via Criterion Collection re-issue.

The print is way richer and better than what I saw a few times in Liverpool and it still holds my interest.

Ramen western?

Before we get into the film I want dispel the idea of the ramen western. Every magazine review you see of Tampopo will use the term 'ramen western' which was apparently coined by publicists during its international release. It's a lazy phrase in the case of Tampopo for a number of reasons.

Yes, one of the protagonists has some clothing that might evoke the image of a cowboy, but that's like writing the entire film from a few curated still images. The clothing is more about evoking the rugged individuality of a truck driver, in a largely conformist society. Their neckerchief is more about lorry cabs having no air conditioning at the time.

The best spaghetti westerns like A Fist Full of Dollars actually were adaptions of Japanese films. In the case of A Fist Full of Dollars, it's the retelling in western setting of the Akira Kurosawa film Yojimbo. So the Ramen Western reference is basically saying 'it's a Japanese interpretation set around a neighbourhood restaurant of an Italian plagarisation of a Japanese samurai film classic'.

The reality is that Tampopo is more complex than the simplistic ramen western label would have you believe.

Juzo Itami

Director Juzo Itami was an auteur: actor, script writer and director. Tampopo was his second feature film and he would eventually direct eight more. Itami's later films courted controversy with him being attacked by Yakuza members. His eventual suicide is widely believed to have been staged by members of the yakuza to prevent a film that discussed the gang's links with a buddhist movement.

Back to Tampopo

Tampopo revolves around food as art and food is also the MacGuffin for the film. In the main story, a widow is struggling to manage her ramen shop following the death of her husband the cook and shop owner.

A jobbing truck driver and drivers mate stop to eat and get sucked into a quest. The widow who is named Tampopo (Japanese for Dandelion), the truck driver and driver's mate to make great ramen and rejuvenate the fortunes of the shop.

So if Tampopo isn't a ramen western, what is it?

The simple answer would be an action comedy revolving around a ramen shop and the art of cooking. But there is so much more in the film.

There is a second story about 'the man in white' which has heavy overtones of French new wave cinema and features a basket of European food fit for a decadent picnic. The fourth wall is broken and one of the characters speaks directly to the audience, adding an additional layer of complexity. We are both audience and (minor) character. Over new wave vignettes in the film include:

Salarymen having a meal at a French restaurant

A women's etiquette class on how to eat spaghetti silently in the European manner

Supermarket staff stopping an older woman with a compulsion to squeeze food

A con man uses an elaborate meal to lure a mark into an scam

A woman breast feeds her infant

Torakku Yarō

There are references due to the plot structure to the idea of the ronin - the unattached samurai helping out common people in the plot structure. But just as important the film references Japanese culture around that time. There is a clear parallel between Tampopo and a series of trucking related comedy films that were made from 1974 - 1979. Torakku Yarō which roughly translates as Truck Guys or Truck Rascals. It is a series of ten films made over a four year period to cater for the popularity of the genre.

The plots were standardised.

Truck driver falls in love with woman he meets on the road.

Truck driver through his actions actually helps her fall in love with another man.

Truck driver ends up going on a quest to help reunite the star-crossed lovers under some sort of time restriction.

In this case cooking ramen is substituted for the 'other man'. The connections don't stop at the plot structure, one of the main characters Pisken is played by Japanese Italian actor Rikiya Yasuoka - who appeared in the first instalment of the Torakku Yarō series.

Torakku Yarō itself was based on an earlier series of comedies called Otoko wa Tsurai yo: translated as It's tough being a man. 48 films were made in this series from 1969 to 1995 based around the same formula.

Tora-san falls in love with a woman

Tora-san argues with his extended family

Tora-san's love of the woman is not reciprocated and he leaves heart-broken

While the humour may not fully come out from Tompopo, it's a visual tour-de-force with great acting and a distinctive vision behind the film. I look forward to rewatching it again in the future.

One person found this helpful

Johnny Svensson

Ingen subtitled in English

Reviewed in Sweden on August 16, 2022

Verified Purchase

Enligt recensioner skulle det finnas japanskt språk och engelsk subtitles. Det finns endast japansk språk och fransk subtitles. Tyvärr var det lögn!

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Juzo Itami’s offbeat, outrageously sexy, long-unavailable “ramen western”

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