TAMPOPO
A Film Review by Brian Takeshita
Rating: ***1/2 out of ****
After watching the first ten minutes of this Japanese film, you will never eat a bowl of ramen the same way again. There is a scene where an old man is teaching a young one how to eat the soupy bowl of noodles, as a master would teach an eager apprentice. "You caress the noodles with the chopsticks," he says, "then put the roast pork on the side of the bowl and apologize to it by saying, 'see you soon.'" Of course, it's meant to be a parody, but there is an earnestness underneath the silliness that makes you take it with a certain degree of sobriety. You begin to appreciate the food as not merely something you eat, not something you like, not something you enjoy, but rather something you experience. Experiencing it is a process which engages all of the senses, fulfilling each one on its own terms and weaving them so that the total is a pleasure that is more than the sum of its parts. Trust me, you really want to go find a noodle shop at this point.
Juzo Itami's TAMPOPO brings the same sense of the serious parody of food to the forefront by making the story follow the pattern of an American western, set in modern day Japan. A stranger, Goro (Tsutomu Yamazaki), comes into town and finds Tampopo (Nobuko Miyamoto), the proprietor of a small, hole-in-the-wall noodle shop, trying to fend off the insults of the local strongman, Pisken (Rikiya Yasuoka). Goro, to defend the honor of this woman and her noodles, gets into a fight with the ringleader and his henchmen, emerging bloodied, but victorious. Goro finds that Tampopo's ambition is to have a shop that people would flock to from far away, just to eat a bowl of her ramen. The problem is, her fare is something less than popular, and less than appetizing. However, Goro agrees to help Tampopo in her quest, and in the process they seek the wisdom of an elderly noodle expert, enlist the aid of a wealthy patron, and make friends with the former enemy.
This film is filled with many little scenes which are absolute gems. Take, for example, when Tampopo tries to buy the recipe for a delicious soup from another shop owner. The price is too high, but the owner of the store next door will secretly sell it to her for a more affordable sum. Tampopo meets him at his store late at night, and he leads her to a back room. She protests, thinking that perhaps this man has ulterior motives, but he insists. Just when she is about to bolt for the exit, he shows her a small gap in the wall adjoining his store with the noodle shop next door. She peers through and takes notes as she watches the cook make the soup for the next day, her face filled with a joy that can be felt by the audience. This scene, while comical, is very effective at filling the viewer with a sense of trepidation, then of relief and discovery.
There's also an interesting scene where Goro introduces Tampopo and her son to a bunch of street people who, despite their economic trappings, are all gourmets and master sommeliers. We even watch as one of them sneaks into the kitchen of a restaurant and expertly prepares a French omelet. The scene is meant to bring a laugh, but it also says that no matter whether people are rich or poor, food is something which everyone has in common, and the enjoyment of food is an experience shared by all.
There are also a number of unrelated vignettes appearing throughout the film, which help to illustrate and accentuate the role of food in people's lives. A particularly effective one involves a wife and mother being tended to in her home by a doctor. Surrounded by her children, she is obviously in her last hours of life. Her husband comes home, and seeing her worsened condition, demands that she get up and make dinner. The viewer knows the husband's intention is not to be mean; he is desperate for the normalcy of which he and his family has obviously been deprived, and the wife making dinner is an essential part of this. In a near miracle, the wife drags herself to the kitchen and prepares a quick meal, then brings it to her awaiting family. As the family eats, she looks on them and smiles. Preparing food for her family is a joy and a comfort to her, and for a brief moment, she too enjoys the normalcy. Then she falls over, dead. For a moment, the family is stunned, but then the father yells at the children, "Keep eating! This is the last meal your mother ever made!" Crying as they do so, the family finishes the meal. The scene is comical, awkward, moving, and beautiful.
By including the vignettes, Itami ran the risk of creating a disjointed film, but surprisingly, they do not interrupt the pacing of the main storyline. Instead, they even help contribute to the idea that Tampopo's goal of being able to serve exceptional food is worthy and even noble. Because the film parodies a western, the construction of the plot is fairly predictable, but is still enjoyable as we watch the familiar way in which the "good guys" come together for the final showdown. In this case, the showdown is against the ramen. If they eat Tampopo's ramen, soup and all, Tampopo knows she has succeeded. It's pretty obvious what the outcome will be, but when a film changes your whole perspective on something you consume every day of your life, you can afford to cut it a little slack.
Review posted January 31, 1998
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