Tampopo is one of those food films that make you love ramen then order it on delivery later. This film is a classic but in a subgenre of films about food that feature a signature dish like Big City with Timpano, a large multilayered Italian meat, pasta, cheese and sausage pie. Tampopo is also a multi-genre film that’s partly a Western, romance, coming-of-age movie and adventure film. But all of these tonal shifts in the genre would never have worked if it wasn’t a really good comedy.
Tampopo has two stories that play at the same time. The first story is about a foodie crime boss with his girlfriend going through their lusty affairs and his appreciation of food. The other story is the main one that carries the film. A small restauranteur’s ramen noodle place struggling to get more customers. The restauranteur is a widowed mother named Tampopo who works endlessly to save a business her husband started before he died abruptly years ago. Her young son, Tabo, is bullied by the neighbourhood boys for being soft. One day, a mysterious cool cowboy-like truck driver named Gorō with his assistant driver, Gun, rolls into town. He sits at her restaurant and eats her signature dish, pork ramen. He didn’t like the meal but promised to teach her a few lessons and philosophies of cooking that could make her ramen so fantastic it triples her business. The rest of the film has vignettes of different people appreciating foods, the manners to eat them, different tastes of foods and the emotional connection people can have to food.
Screenshot of Tampopo (1985). Tampopo preparing a six-person order for ramen dishes in front of Gorō.
The film is a romantic comedy with Western elements in the main story. The cowboy riding in to save your business only to ride into the sunset when you are in a better place is a Western trope (also I didn’t spoil the ending to the film perse.) All the vignettes are about different types of foods that are not necessarily ramen but how foods influence behaviours, tastes and health. The vignettes blend into the story with characters moving from one task to another entering another story arc. The small side stories also influence the style of how the main story gets told by the composition of the scene and the different tasks that Tampopo does in her tutorials. But they can be very silly, but it’s a comedy.
The romance part of the film has some nudity which would make this film not completely for a general audience. The make-out scenes with the foodie crime boss with his girlfriend can be excessive and gratuitous, especially with the food.
This film was directed by Juzo Itami an actor/director who was the husband of the lead actress, Nobuko Miyamoto. He was the son of Mansaku Itami who made satirical films that used samurai as his figurative characters. This was the second feature-length film the director made in his comedic director career. The film has slapstick elements that make the comedy outrageous in a good way. The camera follows the actors in tasks by panning back and forth to different areas of a room and then using cuts or weird camera angles to show a change in the story. It’s easier on the eyes but it also doesn’t abruptly stop the story in many parts.
There were some sound effects of the multiple times ramen was slurped with slurping sounds and whistles.
The lead actress, Nobuko Miyamoto, character portrayal of Tampopo was very sweet, kind and eager to succeed. The tasks and dream sequence the character is in show a stressed out woman but it is an angry one. She never loses her temper. Throughout the film, the character shows that “heavy weights” are lifted off of her shoulders because her stressors lessen.
Furthermore, the two truck drivers coming into town are pretty much foodies. They know so much about food that there practically are chefs. Their demeanour is a mix of calm, determined and helpful. Also, the young associate was played by Ken Watanabe early in his career.
I could list all of the foods featured in the films but it’s best to watch the film maybe with snacks. The film has a good message about accepting a business redesign to save a business. The changes that happened to Tampopo were always beneficial to all of the characters. All of the characters are optimistic in their way.
Screenshot of Tampopo (1985). The patrons finally have Tampopo’s new ramen dish.
Under The Moonlight 
Tampopo is one of those food films that make you love ramen then order it on delivery later. This film is a classic but in a subgenre of films about food that feature a signature dish like Big City with Timpano, a large multilayered Italian meat, pasta, cheese and sausage pie. Tampopo is also a multi-genre film that’s partly a Western, romance, coming-of-age movie and adventure film. But all of these tonal shifts in the genre would never have worked if it wasn’t a really good comedy.
Tampopo has two stories that play at the same time. The first story is about a foodie crime boss with his girlfriend going through their lusty affairs and his appreciation of food. The other story is the main one that carries the film. A small restauranteur’s ramen noodle place struggling to get more customers. The restauranteur is a widowed mother named Tampopo who works endlessly to save a business her husband started before he died abruptly years ago. Her young son, Tabo, is bullied by the neighbourhood boys for being soft. One day, a mysterious cool cowboy-like truck driver named Gorō with his assistant driver, Gun, rolls into town. He sits at her restaurant and eats her signature dish, pork ramen. He didn’t like the meal but promised to teach her a few lessons and philosophies of cooking that could make her ramen so fantastic it triples her business. The rest of the film has vignettes of different people appreciating foods, the manners to eat them, different tastes of foods and the emotional connection people can have to food.
The film is a romantic comedy with Western elements in the main story. The cowboy riding in to save your business only to ride into the sunset when you are in a better place is a Western trope (also I didn’t spoil the ending to the film perse.) All the vignettes are about different types of foods that are not necessarily ramen but how foods influence behaviours, tastes and health. The vignettes blend into the story with characters moving from one task to another entering another story arc. The small side stories also influence the style of how the main story gets told by the composition of the scene and the different tasks that Tampopo does in her tutorials. But they can be very silly, but it’s a comedy.
The romance part of the film has some nudity which would make this film not completely for a general audience. The make-out scenes with the foodie crime boss with his girlfriend can be excessive and gratuitous, especially with the food.
This film was directed by Juzo Itami an actor/director who was the husband of the lead actress, Nobuko Miyamoto. He was the son of Mansaku Itami who made satirical films that used samurai as his figurative characters. This was the second feature-length film the director made in his comedic director career. The film has slapstick elements that make the comedy outrageous in a good way. The camera follows the actors in tasks by panning back and forth to different areas of a room and then using cuts or weird camera angles to show a change in the story. It’s easier on the eyes but it also doesn’t abruptly stop the story in many parts.
There were some sound effects of the multiple times ramen was slurped with slurping sounds and whistles.
The lead actress, Nobuko Miyamoto, character portrayal of Tampopo was very sweet, kind and eager to succeed. The tasks and dream sequence the character is in show a stressed out woman but it is an angry one. She never loses her temper. Throughout the film, the character shows that “heavy weights” are lifted off of her shoulders because her stressors lessen.
Furthermore, the two truck drivers coming into town are pretty much foodies. They know so much about food that there practically are chefs. Their demeanour is a mix of calm, determined and helpful. Also, the young associate was played by Ken Watanabe early in his career.
I could list all of the foods featured in the films but it’s best to watch the film maybe with snacks. The film has a good message about accepting a business redesign to save a business. The changes that happened to Tampopo were always beneficial to all of the characters. All of the characters are optimistic in their way.
Genre: Comedy
Year: 1985
Duration: 115 minutes
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.Four and a half stars of five stars
All screenshots are from the film
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