Tampopo
Directed by: Jûzô Itami - 1 hour, 54 minutes - 1985 - Japan - Color - 1.85:1
Starring: Ken Watanabe, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Nobuko Miyamoto
"Oh my god, you've never seen ramen used as an allegory for so many things!" my former TLA Video coworker Robert, explaining Tampopo to any customer who hadn't seen it.
Billed as Japan's first "Noodle Western", this is the story of the young widow Tampopo, who is struggling to keep her noodle shop in business while raising her young son. She is helped by Goro, a dark and mysterious truck driver with a cowboy hat and an appreciation for fine noodles, who tours Tampopo through a world of food obsessives in pursuit of the perfect bowl of ramen. At least that's one story. The film digresses freely, and often wanders off to stories of gangsters, dying mothers, hobo gourmands, erotic foodplay, and uptight businessmen, all connected by food and its importance in their lives. Tampopo is at or near the top of any list of the greatest food movies and with good reason - there's really no other film like it. Also, it's really goddamned funny.