Advertisement

Movies & TV Movies & TV Reviews

>>> Foodie classic Tampopo is just as delicious as ever

TAMPOPO (Juzo Itami). 114 minutes. Subtitled. Opens Friday (December 9). See listing. Rating: NNNNN


You’re more likely to have heard of Juzo Itami’s Tampopo than actually to have seen it. The late Japanese director’s 1985 “noodle western” is a regular on lists of great movies about food – along with Babette’s Feast, Like Water For Chocolate and Big Night – but has been unavailable in North America for over a decade.

Until now, anyway. Thanks to the efforts of Janus Films and the Criterion Collection, Tampopo is back in circulation in a new 4K digital restoration – and ready to prove not only that it belongs on those foodie lists but also that it’s still one of the oddest, most distinctive movies ever made.

Set in contemporary Japan, Tampopo is a goof on the classic western tale of unlikely heroes riding to the rescue of distressed damsels. Here, the good guys are a pair of truckers (Tsutomu Yamakazi and a young Ken Watanabe) who decide to help a widow (Nobuko Miyamoto) perfect the ultimate ramen recipe in order to save her noodle restaurant. (The widow’s name is Dandelion: in Japanese, Tampopo.)

That’s the plot, but there’s so much more to this movie than the storyline. Tampopo is a manic celebration of pleasure in every imaginable form, from the gustatory to the carnal – thanks to a parallel narrative in which a white-suited gangster (Koji Yakusho) and his female companion (Fukumi Kuroda) enjoy a series of exotic meals, and each other.

Itami also finds room for a series of odd little sketches that echo and inform the main story, like the digression about a woman who gets off her deathbed to cook one last family meal. In another film, these sequences might be distracting or annoyingly precious here, they’re side dishes that complement the main course.

It’s delirious cinema, and though this restoration virtually guarantees a new Criterion Blu-ray is in the offing, don’t miss the chance to see Tampopo with a crowd. I still have vivid memo­ries of the egg yolk scene triggering shocked laughter from different corners of the room 30 years ago.

Advertisement

Exclusive content and events straight to your inbox

Subscribe to our Newsletter

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

By signing up, I agree to receive emails from Now Toronto and to the Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.

Recently Posted