StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

sharky_55 Tampopo is a comic satire about the enjoyment of food, and then some, but it could be perceived as earnest if viewing just the main narrative. Itami does not seek to expose and ridicule, but sprinkles loving touches throughout the story of a widow's struggling noodle business. In an early scene, Goro recounts how his master taught him the mysteries and treasures of the ramen bowl, and how he delicately assigns each segment its own personality; each slice of pork, each strand of noodle (smooth but strong!), the slowly sinking seaweed. Such an ode to a simple staple meal could be inserted in many films about food, and Itami only slightly exaggerates. And it's effective too - films about food should make you hungry, and imbue you with the same sense of passion for cooking as the characters do. I made noodles immediately after watching this. He reaches instead by making a familiar situation ridiculous. A lone wanderer (he has a young Ken Watanabe in tow, who does not do much) drifts into a bar on a rainy night and quietly threatens a drunk scoundrel, before being beaten soundly offscreen by 5 men (they later have a 'rematch' which ends in them congratulating on each other's prowess). Later, in a voyeuristic and mysterious moment heightened by the soundtrack, Tampopo is lead by a stranger through back alleys and grimy shops to a slit in the wall, which reveals not a secret conspiracy or cult, but a man preparing soup stock. When a rival restaurant is challenged, the stride into the scene fanned out like a posse from a western, looking for retribution. In the climatic shoot-out, the banging drums once again make this tenser than a meal could ever be, and the camera slides slowly across each taster (and here the sound design is just both incredible and funny - not horses galloping, gunshots or an iconic whistle, but slurping, slurping and more slurping), before the music crescendos with them downing the soup in unison. And after the whole affair, Goro wanders away to yet another story, like a Blondie or an Ethan Edwards. Tampopo remains earnest herself, Miyamoto giving a delightful performance. There is much played straight in the narrative of revitalising the noodle joint; lessons in dissecting each facet of the customer's body language, needs and personality, timing the preparation of each bowl and memorising orders to a tee could fit snugly into a similar movie as a training montage. In one particularly shining moment, she echoes the biting criticisms of a rival's noodles and all she has learned while bobbing in and out and behind Goro, all with the adorable creased smile on her face. She reacts to failure with teary disappointment, and to success with delight and dedication. It is in fact the aspect of playing it straight that creates much of the comedy. Food is taken very seriously, even by the homeless, who compare fine wines like they were at the dinner table, not crouching in a rubbish dump. And like true food snobs, they lament about declines in product quality and the departure of the human touch, but that is complimented by the loving way in which a rice omelette is delicately fried; maybe they do know a thing or too. They, like Tampopo, talk of food with wide eyes and sly smiles, and are completely and utterly earnest.We see the same in the little vignettes sprinkled throughout the main story, and it creates an outrageous and absurd humour. A young man sees his older colleagues all order rather plain meals, and then inquires at length about the fine cuisines on the menu, and then keeps going and going, all while he is being prodded to hurry up. Weeping children are told to finish every last bite of their meal, just like at any dinner table, only this one is cooked by the dead wife. The silence of a posh socialite lesson is invaded by the slurping of a man nearby, and then to the horror of the elder, the attempts by her students begin to form a cacophony of slurps that only increase in volume and intensity! And then there is the sort of desire that approaches sensual levels, quite literally (First, caress the pork with your chopsticks). A slurp of an oyster (a strong vaginal symbol) turns into a heated sensual exchange, and the music makes it out to be some heavenly beauty and romance. And the main couple engage in a series of fetishized sexual acts involving a struggling shrimp shrimp against the bare belly, dipping body parts into cream, and something out of a drunk party game (I've seen it with ice), which involves slipping an egg yolk between each other's mouths. This is so so sincere, and their bodies shake with delight even as I shuddered in disgust. And at the end of their own little story, the gangster has been fatally shot, and his poetic final words turn into a long winded spiel about the yam sausages and the best garnishes to go with them. This is absolutely hilarious, because first Itami hits all the usual clichés (the shhh-ing of the weeping lover, the leaving of a memento, the reminiscing of a long bygone time), second because it goes on for far longer than these death scenes usually go on, faking out the audience several times, and finally because it is still treated as absolutely serious - I mean, listen to the music. And the final image is a perfect combination of the hedonistic urges that Tampopo is made up of - a baby eagerly sucking on a mother's breast. Even an infant knows what it wants.

jeff light This is quite literally food pornography in many scenes. You can accurately judge the whole film by the credits scene, which is a 2 minute close up of a woman's nipple as she feeds her baby.The film documents the rather Japanese obsession with food and the "correct" way to eat, prepare, or order it. You can tie it into sexual repression and the replacement of enjoying food instead of enjoying sex. (There is no kissing or sex between any of the characters in the two main love stories, unless food is in their mouths.)The main story of a woman seeking to become the best noodle chef is supplemented by several short scenes of random strangers that are loosely based on the food theme as well, but otherwise have nothing to do with the main narrative. A lot of people would probably like this film a lot more if those unrelated scenes were cut out, leaving the main narrative at about 1 1/2 hours. As is, they are often very seriously filmed while meant to be darkly, bizarrely comical. I don't think many people will find them funny, and some scenes actually reinforce a lot of negative ideals in Japan. For example, a couples' food fetishism beginning when a gangster buys an oyster from a child diver (she might be 12 or so) and eats it from her hand, whereby they start making out. A husband attempts to keep his wife alive a few minutes longer by demanding she make the family dinner before dying. An old lady with dementia damages all the food in a grocery store while "inspecting" it, and the store owner chases her around the store.These highlight very real issues in Japan. Ignored mental illness in the elderly. Rigid gender roles and unhappy marriages. The worship and fetishization of young girls by men old enough to be their fathers. Far from being a document of these issues, the film does not seem to censure them in anyway, and actually to support them a bit. Take them out and you're still left with a main story that has hollow comedy, is mired in boring details, and has an irresolute love story. And it's all built around the idea that a woman needs a team of men to teach her how to be a good noodle cook, despite one's comment that "I never believed a woman could be as good of a noodle chef as a man!"Frankly, it's a movie that is cleverly directed, but whose story and tone were archaic at the time, and are even more disgusting by modern standards. Look elsewhere for depth or entertainment.

john_hugo Tampopo is a wonderful lighthearted film. There is no antagonist in the film except for possibly "insincere noodles". The film centers around the quest of a shy humble restaurant owner to improve her product. She has no idea what to do, until her hero Goro (a truck driver)arrives by chance in her restaurant and reluctantly agrees to mentor her in the art of noodle creation. Sounds boring, I admit, but it is not. The movie bounces from one absurd scene to another, with one common theme: food. There are even a couple of bizarre and hilarious sex scenes centered around food. Very funny stuff! It also features a very young Ken Wantabe in one of his earliest roles. If you don't mind subtitles, this is a gem of a film: a completely original comedy.

lynnbell-713-514727 Funny, mesmerizing, original, both spoof and serious, Tampopo is a 'ramen western" that is secretly about bringing the best out of a woman, In this case Tampopo. With bifurcating stories about food as the bond in all human relations, from birth to death, to sex and back again, the men in the film finally get it right. Pay attention to their personal histories of loss and love, to what is thrown away, lost or devalued, In Japanese Tampopo means Dandelion,and in Japanese culture dandelions are admired for their strength and deep roots and the ability to return each spring. This film has many seed stories, tossed in so many directions your mind cannot keep them all together. A film to see and see again, over time. A bowl of noodles will never be the same again.