Tampopo (タンãƒãƒ, Tanpopo, literally "dandelion") is a 1985 Japanese comedy film by director Juzo Itami, starring Tsutomu Yamazaki, Nobuko Miyamoto, KÅji Yakusho, and Ken Watanabe. The publicity for the film calls it the first "ramen western", a play on the term Spaghetti Western (films about the American Old West made by Italian production studios).
Plot
Tampopo - Abenteuerfilm deutsch ganzer Film Jahr 1985 Germany/USA.
A pair of truck drivers, the experienced GorÅ and a younger sidekick named Gun, stop at a decrepit roadside ramen noodle shop. Outside, GorÅ rescues a boy who is being beaten up by three schoolmates. The boy, Tabo, turns out to be the son of Tampopo, the widowed owner of the struggling business, Lai Lai. When a customer called Pisken harasses Tampopo, GorÅ invites him and his men to step outside. GorÅ puts up a good fight, but outnumbered by Pisken and his men, he is knocked out and wakes up the next morning in Tampopo's home.
When Tampopo asks their opinion of her noodles, GorÅ and Gun tell her they are "sincere, but lack character." After GorÅ gives her some advice, she asks him to become her teacher. They decide to turn her establishment into a paragon of the "art of noodle soup making". GorÅ takes her around and points out the strengths and weaknesses of her competitors. She still cannot get the broth just right, so GorÅ brings in the "old master" and his superlative expertise. When they rescue a wealthy elderly man from choking on his food, he lends her his chauffeur Shohei, who has a masterful way with noodles. Also, through clever trickery they pry ramen secrets from their competitors. During the transition, the group agrees to change the restaurant's name from "Lai Lai" to "Tampopo".
Pisken feels bad for being too drunk to tell his men to stay out of the fight, so he offers GorÅ another chance one-on-one. After the rematch ends in a draw, Pisken reveals he is a contractor and offers to make over the shop's interior. Tampopo's latest effort still comes up short, so Pisken teaches her his own secret recipe. When the five men consume her latest creation down to the last drop, Tampopo knows she has won. (Tabo also triumphs, beating all three of his tormentors). As customers fill her newly redecorated shop, the men file out one by one.
The main narrative is interspersed with stories involving food on several levels. Satirical vignettes involve a lowly worker who upstages his superiors by displaying his vast culinary knowledge while ordering at a gourmet French restaurant; a housewife who rises from her deathbed to cook one last meal for her family; and a women's etiquette class on how to eat spaghetti properly. Another subplot involves a corner store clerk who has to deal with an older woman obsessed with squeezing food. The clerk's scene segues into a restaurant involving an investment scam and the intended victim, who turns out to be a conman himself.
The primary subplot involves a young man in a white suit â€" an elegant gangster â€" and his lover, who explore erotic ways to use food. In the end, the man is shot several times by an unknown assailant, to his lover's horror, but uses his last words to convey his secret recipe for sausages.
Throughout, the film puns off stereotypical American movie themes, characters, music and camera set-ups and shots.
Cast
- Tsutomu Yamazaki as GorÅ
- Nobuko Miyamoto as Tampopo
- KÅji Yakusho as Man in White Suit
- Ken Watanabe as Gun
- Rikiya Yasuoka as Pisuken
- KinzÅ Sakura as ShÅhei
- Yoshi KatÅ as Noodle-making master
- Hideji ÅŒtaki as Rich Old Man
- Fukumi Kuroda as Man in White Suit's mistress
- Setsuko Shinoi as Old Man's mistress
- Yoriko DÅguchi as Pearl diver (Oyster girl)
- Masahiko Tsugawa as Supermarket manager
- Yoshihiro KatÅ as Man in White Suit's henchman
- Mariko Okada as spaghetti sensei
- RyūtarŠŌtomo as Ramen master
- Toshiya Fujita as Man with Toothache (un-credited)
Release
A road show release of Tampopo was distributed by Toho on November 23, 1985. The film was released by New Yorker Films in the United States in 1987.
The Criterion Collection prepared a 4K restoration of Tampopo that was released in theatres in October 2016.
Reception
![Amazon.com: Tampopo (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]: Nobuko ...](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vCEDAA_LZvVTo3uEAZieZ_aEvz4HWzfvG8xMAdif53YdKGguZC8Iv_zYE02UYUQFhXujJJ2cmXxpK_634s-2yfYGU2frCDSMPOBA6pwhIwXYYNBI_mcyXsaFTNDSDE8dFI-JZQVA=s0-d "Amazon.com: Tampopo (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]: Nobuko ...")
Roger Ebert gave the film four out of four stars, commenting that "Like the French comedies of Jacques Tati, it's a bemused meditation on human nature in which one humorous situation flows into another offhandedly, as if life were a series of smiles."
Hal Hinson of The Washington Post wrote, "The movie, which Itami calls a 'noodle western,' is a rambunctious mixture of the bawdy and the sublime." "'Tampopo' is perhaps the funniest movie about the connection between food and sex ever made."
Vincent Canby provided a somewhat dissenting, though still positive, opinion in his New York Times review, stating, "Though it's not consistently funny ... 'Tampopo' is one of the more engaging films to be shown in this year's [New Directors/New Films] series." "Mr. Itami often strains after comic effects that remain elusive. The most appealing thing about 'Tampopo' is that he never stops trying."
Tampopo has received unanimous praise from critics, with a 100% approval rating and average score of 8.5/10 from Rotten Tomatoes, based on 46 reviews. The site's critical consensus states, "Thanks to director Juzo Itami's offbeat humor and sharp satirical edge, Tampopo is a funny, sexy, affectionate celebration of food and its broad influence on Japanese culture."
Legacy
The 2008 American/Japanese movie The Ramen Girl, in which a girl played by Brittany Murphy learns how to make ramen, contains many references to Tampopo, including a cameo by Tsutomu Yamazaki.
A number of ramen restaurants around the world have been named Tampopo.
References
Bibliography
Further reading
- Ashkenazi, Michael. "Food, Play, Business, and the Image of Japan in Itami Juzo's Tampopo". In Anne Bower, ed., Reel Food: Essays on Food and Film (New York: Routledge, 2004).
External links
- Tampopo on IMDb
- Tampopo at AllMovie
- Tampopo (in Japanese) at the Japanese Movie Database
- Essay by Willie Blackmore at the Criterion Collection