zachmoats
The premise of Tampopo guarantees a bit of off the wall. However, whenever you start to get deeper into the film, it offers so much more than just that. Much of that is thanks to the direction of Jûzô Itami.Itami's ability to shoot ensemble scenes is on full display in Tampopo. There are consistently frames with 4 or 5 people in the scene and he constantly finds ways to give each character their own space in the scene without it ever feeling crowded. One of the best examples that sticks out afterward was the scene where the 5 men at the bar are trying Tampopo's noodles at the same time. Each man makes similar movements in the scene while eating the bowl of noodles, so your attention is drawn to them, meanwhile Tampopo is in the foreground of the shot behind the bar still moving around and watching the men. Itami's ability to craft these types of scenes and manage movements from a multitude of characters gave him the ability to have fun with that, often manifesting itself in acts of physical comedy - such as the scene I described with the same all eating the noodles the same way. Itami's direction adds layers to an already funny and incredibly original premise rooted in the plot of Tampopo. It is a film that you will not regret giving a shot.
pinokiyo
It's like if David Lynch/Stanley Kubrick were to direct a movie about food/ramen... you'd get something like "Tampopo". First off, the film stars a really young Ken Watanabe (Last Samurai/Inception/Letters from Iwo Jima) - it's hilarious how young he looks/acts in this. This film isn't just about ramen. It also includes several odd, yet intriguing, short story scenes involving other characters love for other food... when I say love, yeah, I mean literally too - there is a pornographic scene where they show this guy just having sexual encounters with a girl involving food basically every time... playing mouth to mouth with a raw egg trying not to dissolve it... (When I was a really young kid, I saw my parents watching this scene and the part with the shrimp on the stomach forever stayed in my brain. lol) So yeah, this is not really a kids or family film. HahaThere's also a bit where some weird crazy old lady just poking and touching the food at a grocery store. LOL It seems random when you're watching it like what the hell does this got to do with ramen or the film itself? But you realize all those short story scenes involve food/love... it's actually funny because as weird as it may seem, you know all those things could happen. For an 80's film, it's pretty upbeat and fast. It's very quirky. It will make you want to eat some ramen. This really is the only legendary film about ramen. It's a cult classic. If can't handle weird films, this is not for you.
Edgar Soberon Torchia
I love this film and often recommend it to students of scriptwriting as a model of anti-script «a la Syd Field». Free structure, all kinds of vignettes about food, the art of cooking (Itami, I believe, was a chef), closed with a loving image that tells all about us humans' urge to eat. Best images are those beautiful erotic shots that illustrate the story of a handsome cinéphile gangster dressed in white (the scenes featuring an egg and a shrimp, are topped by the one with an oyster and a very young female fisher), but you will surely enjoy several comedy vignettes, that freely disrupt the central story, including the bureaucrats' lunch, the etiquette lady who is teaching young women how to eat spaghetti, the old master teaching his young pupil how to approach a bowl of ramen soup, the character with a tooth ache, the dying woman who prepares meal for her family
But of course, the main story (taken from «Shane», of the stranger that helps a family) is very good, about how Tampopo, the owner of a cheap road café, is taught how to make good soup by a truck driver and several other characters, with industrial spying included. An excellent post-modern comedy, that will probably make you want to run to the next Japanese restaurant and have a bowl of hot ramen soup.
redwoods
I can't count the number of times I've watched this wonder, discovered one night when I rented it from the local video store in 1993. I believe that like a great recipe, you need to practice it at least a dozen times to start to get a grip on it. Every time I watch it I take more pleasure as I get older (and hopefully wiser). This film is without a doubt one of the most sensual, generous masterly realized movie of all times. It is to be hold close to Fritz Lang and Kubrik masterpieces, but obviously in a completely different register. It would take me all night to decipher the various reasons why this pure marvel is so good. But this is not required. It is simply a tale about life and death, and the ongoing process of sex and food in between the two. Epicurism was never thought to be a Japanese value, until we Westerners with all our believes and convictions, realized that Japanese culture encompasses much more that our restrained field of philosophy. This ode to life touches all aspects of our arrogant human society in so many FUNNY and touching ways that I could hardly compare it to anything else watched anywhere else. In a way it is an encyclopedia of human traits. Maybe "La Grande Bouffe" would be the closest contender on SOME aspects only. But Tampopo goes much further in my opinion. And above all the marvelous acting makes it SO FUNNY!! Every time I watch it I laugh more... To have managed to put all these traits of human behavior in only one such great movie is truly an ASTONISHING work in terms of scripting, directing and editing. But even the way it is filmed is perfection itself. Above all keep in mind this NOT a serious boring movie at all but a funny piece of cake to watch... A bit crazy too!! Be aware you'll never look at your bowl of noodles the same way after watching this movie!! "Bon appetite!!"
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