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Best Movies By Farr
Tampopo

Tampopo

Genre:
Comedy,
Foreign
Mood:
Offbeat,
Witty
Decade:
1980's
Country:
Japan
Director:
Juzo Itami
Actor:
Tsutomu Yamazaki,
Ken Watanabe
Actress:
Nobuko Miyamoto
Release Year:
1986
Studio: Itami Productions
Runtime: 114 Mins.
Format: Color
Rating: Unrated
Language: Japanese
New On: Site
Best Movies By Farr

WHAT IT'S ABOUT:

In this wonderfully inventive comedy, a young widow intent on learning how to make the perfect noodle soup meets Goro, a gruff truck driver in a cowboy hat who happens to be a master foodie. With the stranger's help, she's inspired to persevere and make her ramen-noodle café the tastiest in Tokyo.

WHY I LOVE IT:

Deftly satirizing the culture of affluence in 1980s Japan, and cleverly alluding to genre classics like "Shane" and "The Seven Samurai," "Tampopo" is by turns hilarious, sensual, touching, and tragic. While several unrelated food vignettes are interspersed in the story, which keeps the viewer slightly (but agreeably) off-balance, two scenes alone will stay with me always: The young girls learning to eat Western-style spaghetti, and the two lovers sharing an egg yolk. Food and movie lovers should not miss the unique treat that is "Tampopo."


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