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The first rule of Tampopo is mandatory: “contemplate the ramen.”
The Japanese neoclassic is a love letter to noodles and broth—cupped in a frantic, charming and occasionally meta comedy.
At the center of the film stands Tampopo (Nobuko Miyamoto). She’s a widowed single mother fighting to improve her hole-in-the-wall ramen shop with help of two truckers (Tsutomu Yamazaki and Ken Watanabe) whose only real expertise is that they slurp down a lot of ramen.
Their undertaking is as much philosophical as technical as Tampopo throws herself into researching all the pleasures of food service from the counter side and the kitchen side.
A few times, Tampopo’s sensual take on dining blurs the line between food and sex, too, as director Juzo Itami’s eye wanders down side roads that include a gangster and his mistress getting up to some pretty original foodplay in their hotel bed.
While it’s clear that later food-centric romantic films like Chocolat and The Taste of Things owe a fair bit to Tampopo, the 1985 forerunner doesn’t take itself so seriously.
Life is strange and taxing and seedy, Itami’s movie posits; we can only hope the people making our noodles give a damn. Tomorrow, Nov. 15.
Also playing:
Academy: Goodfellas (1990), Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion (1972) and The Narrow Margin (1952), Nov. 13–19. Cinema 21: The Room (2003), Nov. 13. Miracle in Milan (1951), Nov. 14. Cinemagic: Bullet in the Head (1990), Nov. 11. Sleepless in Seattle (1990), Nov. 11 and 15. Phantom Thread (2017) and Beau Travail (1999), Nov. 12. Tammy and the T-Rex (1994), Nov. 13. 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), Nov. 13 and 17. The Apartment (1960), Nov. 14 and 16. Chocolat (1988) and You’ve Got Mail (1998), Nov. 15. The Handmaiden (2016), Nov. 16. Romancing the Stone (1984), Nov. 17. Clinton: The Congress Dances (1932), Nov. 11. Mädchen in Uniform (1931), Nov. 12. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), Nov. 14. Asphalt (1929), Nov. 15. Cult Classics: The Last Dragon (1985), Nov. 15. Hollywood: Chariots of Fire (1981), Nov. 12. Christine (1983), Nov. 13. Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama (1988), Nov. 14. The Goonies (1985) and Diebuster (2004), Nov. 15. Supersonic Man (1979), Nov. 17. Moreland: Touch of Evil (1958), Nov. 13.
