Supermarket Woman (1996) User Reviews

Very good feelgood

[sharptongue · 8/10 · 22 December 2001]

The long-term husband and wife partnership of Juzo Itami (director) and Nobuko Miyamoto (star) has produced some good to great works. The pair here stick to a formula Itami is clearly comfortable and, as always, does a creditable job of it.

The great Nobuko M reminds me of a Japanese version of Margaret Rutherford. Forcefully and energetically positive in whatever tasks she throws herself into. Here, her character Hanako is invited by a supermarket owner (Tsuga Masahiko, a frequent co-star) to give his shop a makeover, to resist being gobbled up by an aggressive new competitor. As always, there's a large collection of oddballs amongst both the goodies and the baddies. I liked best the wild-eyed owner of the big supermarket - no surprise with this guy's face and gravelly voice to find he's a comedian.

There are many things to praise about this film. It's a straight down the line feelgood film with, despite the emnity and seriousness of the subject in real life, little real violence (though some comic violence) and the assurance of a happy end. With a little less violence and some of the light adult stuff trimmed out, this film could pretty comfortably been made by Disney, even pre-1970s.

The passage of the warm relationship of the two leads is heartwarming. There is a scene where they may or may not get into bed together. One of the characters lifts a shirt and the other comments that they are both well-past their use-by dates. Of course the interplay between the various weird characters is a treasure.

If ever you wondered about the sort of hi-jinks that go on behind the scenes of your local supermarket, this film may well confirm your worst fears ! The only aspect of the story I found hard to take, and this is only a small point, is that the owner could be so ignorant of some of these things.

Warmly recommended.

Mostly Unseen Itami Gem Here in USA

[GaryW-3 · 8/10 · 21 October 1999]

Once again starring his wife, Nobuko Miyamoto, it is the story of her character's campaign to improve the fortunes of a local grocer. Told with Itami's trademark wit and eye for life's oddest characters. I was fortunate to see this at the Seattle International Film Festival in 1997 and am saddened that it has failed to attract domestic distribution. More tragic, of course, was the untimely passing of dir. Juzo Itami shortly after the completion of his last film in 1998.

Good-natured, family entertainment

[gbill-74877 · 7/10 · 2 December 2021]

Cute, wholesome fare. A housewife meets a childhood friend with a grocery store on the brink of being run out of business by a giant new rival (think Walmart), and goes to work for him. Naturally, she starts by laying off the employees who are incompetent (of which there are many), and identifies cost-cutting measures across the board, including working the employees who remain harder and paying them less. Hahahaha no, just kidding, she doesn't do that. This is a feel-good movie, with vibes that would make Frank Capra proud. She helps David (actually "honest Goro") stand up to Goliath by focusing on quality, integrity, customer service, and sticking together to resist the big company's strong-arm tactics. Goro is maddeningly incompetent and the rest of the characters are practically cartoons, but Nobuko Miyamoto's charm carries the film. I also liked how the romance didn't go the predictable route, with the scene that ended in laughter. I'm not sure I believe the high average rating this film has, but it's good-natured, family entertainment.

Interesting look at Japanese culture

[ebiros2 · 1 December 2011]

This is exceptionally Japanese flavored movie, and I'm not sure if the underlying culture is appreciated by audiences outside of Japan.

Hanako (Nobuko Miyamoto) loves super (Japanese for supermarket). One day she meets Goro (Masahiko Tsugawa) at his rival super market Yasu Uri no Daimao ( which roughly translates to Demon King of Discount). She points out to Goro all the faults of the store. Then Goro asks Hanako to come and check out another store. Hanako points out all the faults of that store too. The store turns out to be Goro's own store. Goro asks Hanako to help him turn the business around. Hanako accepts and becomes the head of cash register. She starts to modify the way business is done at the store, and gradually, the store starts seeing more and more customers.

Itami's movie portrays people in compromising position in a comical way. This movie shows the underlying business culture of Japanese supermarkets. Dated meat are ground into ground beef, cutlet that didn't sell yesterday are packed into bento lunch, they unpack yesterday's food and repacks it again and tacks a new date to it. All this to save money. Hanako opposes these business practices head on, and transforms the store into epitome of well run business. But she also encounters many difficult oppositions.

The movie follows the usual Itami's formula where hard working character portrayed by Miyamoto brings success to the business run by Tsugawa. The details are so interesting, it keeps you involved in the story. Some of the ways people react is difficult to understand because it's so Japanese culture specific. Even then the movie is entertaining, and intriguing.

One of the last movies made by Itami is a good production with many interesting plots.

Supermarket Shenanigans.

[net_orders · 7/10 · 4 March 2018]

SUPERMARKET WOMAN (SU-PA- NO ONNA). Viewed on Streaming. Cinematography/editing/lighting = eight (8) stars; music/score = five (5) stars; sound = five (5) stars; subtitles = five (5) stars. Director Jûzô Itami (also credited as the sole writer) has concocted a high-speed, often hilarious tale of no-holds-barred retail warfare between two local supermarkets with widely differing business models and the impacts thereof on employees and customers. On one side, Itami shows a business where profits come first and shoppers last (and owners and managers look and act like movie yakuza types). This is in sharp contrast to the other store where the reverse philosophy is emerging. The latter is spearheaded by a recently-hired and recently re-acquainted high-school flame of the owner. She is an innovative ball of lightening who is bent on upending traditional worker roles while running a full-blown customer charm offensive in order to save a dying enterprise and its disillusioned owner who seems to have never before faced real completion as a food seller. By instituting a policy of selling only super fresh food, she serially and seriously angers de facto department heads who don't want to change their "traditional" ways. The competition, though, has no qualms about selling re-cycled food as discounted fresh food with the ultimate objective of eliminating it's rival and then jacking up prices (sound familiar?). The plot is a variation on the favorite zero-to-hero theme, but this time out it's a business rather than an individual! Filled to the brim with silliness, this film might work even better as a zany, light-weight TV series so typical of the era. (There's a lot of that type of TV still around!) The movie serves as a showcase for manic leading actress Nobuko Miyamoto (the wife of the Director) who appears to have an endless supply energy (and amphetamines?). Music is jaunty with a Latin beat except when is goes off the rails with surging violins for comical semi-romantic scenes. Dialog is strictly Kensai-ben (especially the Kyoto flavor) making subtitles (although a bit long but otherwise close enough) practically imperative to fully comprehend what's happening. Cinematography (semi-wide screen, color) and lighting are very good. Camera work (with some assist from editing) is both dynamic and super smooth (a superior combination!). Monaural sound is okay. Fully funny! WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.

My favorite part is when Goro Judo tossed the meat thief

[herurubin · 10/10 · 11 October 2006]

This is now my favorite movie, it's, another movie made by the same director starring the same woman s "Tampopo" - which i also loved

My favorite part is when Goro Judo tossed the meat thief - brilliant- hilarious and it made me cheer even though i was by myself, i still did, i don't care

apparently Goro was on every team in college, i just finished watching it and I'm still laughing

the carchase was great too, i was thrilled , the car chase was more exciting than any car chase I've sen in action movies in recent memory.

the 'love' scene was hilarious and refreshing too, and somehow - while not immediately apparent Hanoko's energy and personality is sexy - well, maybe just to me

10 out of 10

Social commentary in action circa 1996

[jakerocks · 6/10 · 11 April 2021]

This movie is a good time capsule of Japanese society from Juzo Itami's perspective as a director trying to reach an international audience. He stated in interviews for his first film Tampopo that he was trying to have an American perspective on filmmaking and the statements he was making. And this film continues to carry that perspective while showing what is also clearly Japanese and true to cultural standards of the time.

For example he is much more aware of the toxic masculinity he is displaying in the relationship between the two main characters and calling into question how men treat women. But at the same time honoring the bond of relationships and the delicate nature of the human condition.

There are plenty of comical antics interspersed among tense moments of bullying and courage. Overall a light hearted film. So why not 10 stars? It really is difficult to stomach the way men treat women and the harsh line between masculine and feminine in Japanese society. It's easy to come away with a negative feeling and easy to forget having witnessed so many moments of bravery and rejuvenation of the community that the amazing Nobuko Miyamoto's character delivers in her incredible performance. She alone makes the film worth watching.

Super Supermarket story

[illg · 9/10 · 8 April 2010]

Not sure how one reviewer could call this stale, ? , I thought it was great , it suppose to be a nice gentle tale of two people and the market that brought them together. What I really can't understand is why Tampopo is not one of the movies listed at the bottom as recommendation. I don't think the ones that are there really fit , this is a fun movie and interesting to see the market and the behind the scenes operation. Wish I could see another like it, I wonder if I should just follow the director and see what he has done. My fav scene is the chase thru the market. Liked the oddballs standing up against the senior market guys.

Light, funny, and charming

[arsoys · 10/10 · 1 October 2010]

I really enjoyed this movie.

It is so bloody straight. "Honest Goro" is... an honest Goro (everyman name): bumbling and very imperfect. And it's his supermarket, too. "Bargains Galore" is the shady cut-throat business that threatens to destroy Goro.

Enter Hanako (everywoman name). Yes, like any good woman she wears the pants whether or not she wears the pants. Will she help Goro overcome the competition? Of course. Will they succeed? Well, that would be telling, but what do you really think? This movie is not only really, really straight, it is light and moral without being uptight. Perfectly charming, as charming as the logo of Goro's supermarket. Really enjoyable on a winter night for watching man-and-wife, but without any "romantic comedy" sappiness.

Sometimes we all need something uplifting.

A Discount Supermarket Searches for Perfection

[masercot · 8/10 · 24 March 2022]

I really enjoyed this one. It was a lot like Tampopo, the Noodle Western in taking a mundane career and turning it into a Zen-like success. The widow Hanako helps her childhood friend Goro turn his unpleasant store into a bastion of freshness and cleanliness. Hanako's acumen turns the store into real competition for the chain grocery nearby.

Hanako's enthusiasm is never-ending and contagious. Definitely a fun watch.

pleasant fluff

[lewis-51 · 5/10 · 10 October 2008]

It's hard to believe that this could be anyone's favorite movie. It is a pleasant simplistic comedy that seems to be aimed at about a 12 year old audience. Everybody is a stereotype. The good guys (and gals) are good and the bad guys are bad. Truth and justice triumph. Ho hum. Pass me another peanut butter and fluff sandwich.

The only somewhat more adult and interesting touches are the occasional glimpses into Shinto ritual, and a scene where the male lead tells of his wife's passing due to cancer. Otherwise it's a well made Disney movie that could have been quite a hit for Disney maybe 30 years ago.

Henry

Feel good film

[breadandhammers · 2 November 2020]

What a delightful and bonkers feel good film! I think if this film were done in America, it would be extremely mediocre, but I think Japanese director Juzo Itami knows when to be subtle and when to be bonkers.

Can I Speak To The Manager?

[mmallon4 · 8/10 · 1 March 2024]

Juzo Itami's penultimate film Supermarket Woman has all the hallmarks of a movie intentionally trying to position itself for cult classic adoration from its quirky premise to the film's comic book-like aesthetic in terms of both its visuals as well as the comiclly clear-cut distinction of good-guys and bad-guys. Above all, Supermarket Woman feels like a film in which its visual motifs were created with the intention of selling real-world merchandise. I'd happily buy t-shirts with the logos of fictional supermarket rivals Honest Mart and Discount Demon.

The noble but failing Honest Mart is struggling against its absurdly evil rival Discount Demon, a supermarket run like a militaristic operation out of Imperial Japan (with their business meetings emitting strong Yakuza vibes). Discount Demon is the Chum Bucket to the Krusty Krab or Mondo Burger to Good Burger, thus it takes the ever-fabulous Nobuko Miyamoto as Hanako Inoue to use her womanly, housewife intuition to reinvigorate Honest Mart. Miyamoto's impeccable comic timing both physical and verbal has a real sense of contagious enthusiasm. Much of the sheer fun within Supermarket Woman comes from the screwball comedy-like antics of Hanako and her co-workers as they try to please customers and right various wrongs, from gathering hoards of shopping carts left in the parking lot to dealing with frustrated Karens on the verge of asking for the manager. Equally as memorable is Miyamoto's wardrobe of bright, contrasting colours. Even when she wears an informal blazer it is accompanied alongside tartan trousers and sneakers, in keeping with a character who never takes herself too seriously.

Just how accurate a reflection is Supermarket Woman of Japanese commerce in the post-bubble 1990s? It is unique to observe a wholly independent supermarket that doesn't trade under a franchise name (something which I've never even seen in my own country). This is emblematic of the world Supermarket Woman inhabits, one which presents Japanese supermarkets like the Wild West with the absence of any legal regulations or government oversight. Discount Demon is determined to eliminate the competition so they can raise prices, while both outlets engage in actions such as repacking food with a new expiry date, mixing meats and passing them off as more expensive cuts and even falsely advertising imported meat as being home-breed Japanese.

The exterior and interior of Honest Mart is a world of unbridled, Americana-inspired artifice with its frequent use of checkered patterns and bright colours (in particular the film's prominent use of pink and red) as well as a general warm and fuzzy atmosphere. To accompany this is the film's soundtrack to consumer capitalism - stereotypically, catchy department store music by composer Toshiyuki Honda. Can any lost media sleuths track down an isolated version of the score? As far as weirdly specific film accolades go, Supermarket Woman is the 2nd best Supermarket-themed film I've ever seen. The top spot goes to oddly enough, another Japanese film, Mikio Naruse's Yearning (1964). Recommend for a slightly more unorthodox double-feature experience.

A very engaging film

[Jeremy_Urquhart · 8/10 · 18 March 2023]

Just the kind of breezy, relaxed, funny, and even heartwarming film I needed tonight. Supermarket Woman is quite simply about a savvy middle-aged woman helping to revive a struggling supermarket, who are under extra threat by a new, larger store recently opening up nearby.

It's a very low-stakes movie, but you still come to care for the characters and the story. It's just never stressful or feels like it's playing much for drama, which is nice. Tonally, it's just about all comedy, but it never pushes things too far too often to the point where it feels like it's taking place in another reality entirely.

It's terrible to read about what happened to the director - he was apparently killed by the yakuza because of how he featured them in one of his movies. I've liked everything of his I've seen to some extent, but Supermarket Woman might be up there as his best or second best (personally speaking), and it's definitely his most consistently funny and entertaining.

It might help to have worked in a supermarket at some point before watching this, too. There are quite a few moments sprinkled throughout that feel very relatable.

Deservedly unknown in the U.S.

[ken_mayer · 5/10 · 19 February 2008]

I loved Tampopo, Min-Bo, A Taxing Woman, and The Funeral. I thought Supermarket Woman would be of the same quality. Instead, Supermarket Woman was a long, stale formula. Was it made for TV? What constraints was Itami working under? The narrative strategy (no plural), acting, cinematography, and moral universe are almost equal to "Ace Ventura, Pet Detective." Itami's wife is the protagonist again. She gives good and obvious advice. The villains are cartoonishly evil. They are easily defeated. Everyone cheers. Repeat about 20 times. Perhaps this is funnier in the original Japanese, but the formula seems to bore even the main protagonist. If you are an anthropologist writing about how Japanese pop culture celebrates capitalism, this film *might* be worth digging up. Until I saw this film, I ranked Itami as one of my favorite directors. Now my faith is shaken. What happened? In contrast to Tampopo or The Funeral, there is no material in Supermarket Woman that would be objectionable for younger viewers. There is one scene where characters almost remove clothes. The chase scene and other "punches" are cartoonish and are less violent than "Toy Story" or "Home Alone". The lack of inventiveness and objectionable material made me wonder whether this was made for TV.