Tampopo

Tampopo
by Juzu Itami

Tampopo
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DVD Cover Information

Actor: Ken Watanabe, Koji Yakusho, Nobuko Miyamoto
Director: Juzu Itami
DVD: Region Code 1
Format: Anamorphic, Color, Full length, Import, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Running Time: 114 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-05-22
Studio: Itami Productions

Movie Reviews of Tampopo

Movie Review: Distinctive, Warm and Wonderful
Summary: 5 Stars

Tampopo is a rare thing indeed: a film with a brain, a heart - and a stomach!

Milk truck driver Goro and his friend Gun stumble across a sleepy noodle bar while out working. The owner of Lai Lai is the widow Tampopo, for whom times are hard. She's not helped by the fact that, frankly, her noodle soup isn't so good. So, in the spirit of Shane, Goro decides to help Tampopo make the perfect noodle soup.

This is the main thread of the story, but weaved in amongst it are a succession of stories that show the role of food in Japanese society. Some are funny, some touching and some revel in the sensual pleasure that eating can bring.

Standouts include lunch in a French restaurant for a group of salarymen, a teacher at a finishing school showing a group of young women how to eat spaghetti Western style, a family sharing their last meal with their ding mother and the infamous scene with the gangster, his girlfriend and a raw egg yolk.

Each scene is insightful in some way about the role of food in Japanese life. The role of women in this is also explored too;each time something positive or good happens, somewhere a woman is involved.

I first saw this film nearly twenty years ago and am glad to have finally found a chance to watch it again. I recalled it as one of my favourite films and time has, I'm glad to say, not dimmed that recollection: it's every bit as good as I remember. Sound and picture quality are pretty good overall, with english subtitles available. There are few extras (only really the trailer) and the chapter menus, for example, are entirely in Japanese, suggesting that little has been done to the release when brought into the US. This is not a bad thing, to be honest, and adds something to the disc's character.

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