A pair of truck drivers happen onto a decrepit roadside fast food stop selling ramen noodles. The widowed owner, Tampopo, pleads them to help her turn her establishment into a paragon of the "art of noodle soup making".
The tale of an eccentric band of culinary ronin who guide the widow of a noodle-shop owner on her quest for the perfect recipe, this rapturous “ramen western” by Japanese director Juzo Itami is an entertaining, genre-bending adventure underpinned by a deft satire of the way social conventions distort the most natural of human urges—our appetites. Interspersing the efforts of Tampopo (Nobuko Miyamoto) and friends to make her café a success with the erotic exploits of a gastronome gangster and glimpses of food culture both high and low, the sweet, sexy, and surreal Tampopo is a lavishly inclusive paean to the sensual joys of nourishment, and one of the most mouthwatering examples of food on film ever made.
Tsutomu Yamazaki | Gorô | |
Nobuko Miyamoto | Tampopo | |
Koji Yakusho | Gangster in the White Suit | |
Ken Watanabe | Gun | |
Rikiya Yasuoka | Pisuken | |
Kinzô Sakura | Shôhei | |
Yoshi Kato | Master of ramen making | |
Hideji Otaki | Rich Old Man | |
Fukumi Kuroda | Gangster's Mistress | |
Setsuko Shinoi | Rich old man's mistress | |
Yoriko Dôguchi | Girl Oyster-fisher | |
Masahiko Tsugawa | Supermarket manager | |
Chôei Takahashi | Company executives | |
Akio Tanaka | Company executives | |
Yoshihei Saga | Company executives | |
Toshimune Kato | Office junior | |
Isao Hashizume | Waiter | |
Mario Abe | Ramen stand owner | |
Hitoshi Takagi | Ramen shop owner in Chinatown | |
Sen Hara | Old lady who pinches everything | |
Narutoshi Hayashi | Con man being conned | |
Hisashi Igawa | Man who runs to see dying wife | |
Kensô Katô | Young Employee | |
Yoshihiro Kato | Gangster in white suit's henchman | |
Nobuo Nakamura | Intended victim of con man |
Director | Juzo Itami | |
Writer | Juzo Itami | |
Producer | Seigo Hosogoe, Juzo Itami, Yasushi Tamaoki | |
Musician | Kunihiko Murai | |
Photography | Masaki Tamura |
Quantity | 1 |
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Seen | |
Added Date | Dec 31, 2017 21:57:19 |
Modified Date | Jun 12, 2022 00:34:34 |
Screen Ratios | Widescreen (1.85:1) |
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Audio Tracks | Mono [Japanese] |
Subtitles | English (SDH) |
Distributor | Criterion Collection |
Layers | Single side, Dual layer |
Edition Release Date | Apr 25, 2017 |
Christmas 2017 gift from Gail
Disc Features
New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
The Making of “Tampopo,” a ninety-minute documentary from 1986, narrated by director Juzo Itami
New interview with actor Nobuko Miyamoto
New interview with food stylist Seiko Ogawa
New interviews with ramen scholar Hiroshi Oosaki and chefs Sam White, Rayneil De Guzman, Jerry Jaksich, and Ivan Orkin
Rubber Band Pistol, Itami’s 1962 debut short film
New video essay by filmmakers Tony Zhou and Taylor Ramos on the film’s themes of self-improvement and mastery of a craft
Trailer
New English subtitle translation
PLUS: An essay by food and culture writer Willy Blackmore
New cover by Ping Zhu