Tampopo (1985)

A truck driver stops at a small family-run noodle shop and decides to help its fledgling business. The story is intertwined with various vignettes about the relationship of love and food.

Director:

Jûzô Itami

Writer:

Jûzô Itami (screenplay)

Stars:

Ken Watanabe, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Nobuko Miyamoto

6 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tsutomu Yamazaki	...	Gorô
Nobuko Miyamoto	...	Tampopo
Kôji Yakusho	...	Gangster in the White Suit
Ken Watanabe	...	Gun
Rikiya Yasuoka	...	Pisuken
Kinzô Sakura	...	Shôhei
Yoshi Katô	...	Master of ramen making
Hideji Ôtaki	...	Rich Old Man
Fukumi Kuroda	...	Gangster's Mistress
Setsuko Shinoi	...	Rich old man's mistress
Yoriko Dôguchi	...	Girl Oyster-fisher
Masahiko Tsugawa	...	Supermarket manager
Chôei Takahashi	...	Company executives
Akio Tanaka	...	Company executives
Yoshihei Saga	...	Company executives

Storyline

In this humorous paean to the joys of food, the main story is about trucker Goro, who rides into town like a modern Shane to help Tampopo set up the perfect noodle soup restaurant. Woven into this main story are a number of smaller stories about the importance of food, ranging from a gangster who mixes hot sex with food, to an old woman who terrorizes a shopkeeper by compulsively squeezing his wares.

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Plot Keywords:

waitress | ramen | food | noodles | breaking the fourth wall | 

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Taglines:

The first Japanese noodle western!

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

September 1987 (USA)

Also Known As:

Tampopo

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$16,410, 23 October 2016, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$224,097, 10 February 2017

Company Credits

Production Co:

Itami Productions,New Century Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

114 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The noodle cook in the train station is quite realistic. Japanese train stations are filled with small noodle-shops, diners, and lunch-stands, especially since many trains do not offer food for sale on board.

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Quotes

Old gentleman: Tampopo! Congratulations!

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Crazy Credits

The entire closing credit sequence is a shot a woman breastfeeding her child; the camera slowly zooms in on the baby's mouth sucking his mother's breast.

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Connections

Featured in Playboy: The Story of X (1998)

User Reviews

Yummy

Tampopo is an extremely clever and a very original movie. Like so many other Japanese films before it, Tampopo may not entirely appeal to the western public, but it is by far the most accessible movie I've seen in years.

It is hard to define this film as anything but a story of life through culinary perspective. Major aspects of our every day experience are looked at by introducing food into them, sometimes resulting in a very comical effect. From the first scene, to the last few moments, you will probably be amazed by sheer originality of this movie. Simply coming up with ideas they came up with takes a unique and incredibly approach. Something that has never been done before.

In a sense, I can only compare Tampopo's approach at making us 'taste' what we see with a 2006 film Perfume which managed to describe olfactory experiences with as much success. But unlike Perfume, Tampopo also juggles around few other interesting movie genres just for the fun of it. If you watch carefully, you will begin to see western elements, gangster movie and even a police crime, all in one movie. They might not seem connected at first, but they will make sense in due time.

Overall however the side stories are only there to keep us interested in the main event.

If you thought that tasting things in cinema is impossible, wait till you see Tampopo.

10/10 for great cast, humour, story and acting.