You may have guess this already, but just in case you didn’t… I love ramen. The rich saltiness of the soup, the chewy goodness of the noodles, the tender meat that melts in your mouth – a meticulously prepared bowl fills my senses with nothing but pleasure. No doubt you’ve seen my reviews of purveyors of the most venerable noodle (don’t worry, there will be many more). Juzo Itami’s film, Tampopo, is a love letter to this classic Japanese dish as well as a somewhat quirky look at the connection between food and Japanese culture. The storylines are fused together, much like the Rashomon-ified tales Traffic, Babel, or Crash, etc., but in a much different and almost perverse way. Makes for a good watch and definitely made me crave a bowl of ramen.
That’s a young Ken Watanabe right there, learning the proper way to enjoy a bowl of ramen. His expression alone speaks volumes about the reverence Japanese folk have for their food. Tampopo easily and beautifully showcases their love affair with foods of all kinds. Food-centered movies have been starting to pop up more and more in American cinema (Ratatouille, No Reservations, Spanglish, etc.), but they are still way behind their Asian counterparts in both presentation and creativity. Even Stephen Chow’s take on the food scene is more revealing (and hilarious) than its American brethren.
The major storyline features a trucker and his partner (Tsutomu Yamazaki and Ken Watanabe, respectively), who set about helping a widowed ramen shop owner create the ultimate bowl. Their quest to reach the pinnacle of noodle making is an interesting view into a culture that values and celebrates meticulous excellence and commitment to the perfection of craft. Interspersed among the major story are small vignettes, which feature a gangster and his lover utilizing food as an erotic tool, a course on table etiquette (I loved this one), a dying wife cooking one final spectacular meal, and many more. Itami beautifully covers Japan in its entirety; one shot features hobos hamming it up and enjoying the scraps of fine dining while another reveals the insecurities of salarymen seated at a fine French restaurant.
I’m not a food critic and I’m not a movie critic, but I loved this film. Granted I resonated to the fact that it was about Japanese food and ramen, but Tampopo whisks you away to a place of wonder and astonishment. Easily one of the best foodie films out there, and one of the more interesting foreign films. Itami constructs a wonderful film that reveals so much about Japanese culture with food as its language. Watch it!
Tampopo
Directed by Juzo Itami
Starring Tsutomu Yamazaki, Nobuko Miyamoto, and Ken Watanabe
Released November 23, 1985
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