Like last year, I wanted to do another food related movie for Thanksgiving, and thanks to a recommendation from my father (who also loves Babette’s Feast), this year we’ll be looking at a quirky Japanese film from the 80’s: Tampopo. This film does not contain the same focus on food tying in with togetherness that Babette did, but it does focus on food as a centralized theme as well as the appreciation of food (in various different ways, as we’ll see). I’ll admit, there are one or two bits in here that might put people off, but on the whole, I think this is a fun, oddball movie and will certainly appeal to the more “indie-inclined” in the audience. Let’s get into the story, or more so “scenes,” of the movie first.
The main story of the film follows a trucker named Goro and his quest to help a local ramen chef named Tampopo improve her skills (and her restaurant). They first meet on a rainy night when Goro and his trucking partner Gun stop by to get something to eat (after helping out Tampopo’s son, Tabo, who was getting beaten up by his schoolmates outside). Goro immediately notices that the food isn’t really up to par, but graciously takes it anyway. However, when another restaurant patron named Pisken starts bugging and harassing Tampopo about giving up her shop and settling down with him, Goro takes Pisken outside for a fight, though is quickly overtaken by his buddies. Goro wakes up the next day being tended to by Tampopo. She asks him about the food she makes, and he gives an honest response as well as some advice. Tampopo is enamored with his wisdom on proper ramen and begs him to become her mentor. Goro, appreciative of her (and her food’s) genuine nature, accepts. The two set out to learn all they can about ramen-making, including scoping out other shops’ secrets, which runs them into a bit of trouble sometimes (though nothing that can’t be negotiated or bought). They also receive advice from a wandering master (a.k.a. hobo) who’s rather food-smart, as well as the chauffeur of an old rich man who they saved from choking in another restaurant. Throughout these events, Tampopo and Goro grow closer, and it’s often teased by their friends that they might have a thing for each other. Whether or not they do, and whether or not all their efforts work out in the end, I’ll leave for you to see. However, there are still a few more elements to this movie to mention, as the film frequently transitions away from the main story onto self-contained scenes (and one sub-plot). All of them revolve around food in some way, such as a scene of a young businessman outdoing his older counterparts in fine dining and class, a teacher trying to teach her students how eat noodles “the western way” a.k.a. without slurping (even though there’s a western guy close by slurping his noodles), a sickly and dying woman who uses her last bit of strength to make dinner for her family, a market clerk trying to catch an older lady who’s been kinkily squeezing all his produce, and the main subplot following a gangster and his delves into erotic food usage, among others. We’ll get into how this all shakes out in the next section.
I’ve mentioned this before, but there’s a tendency I’ve found in Japanese media to present things in a very played-up manner, similar to what you would see in older film-making (like black and white to early color era) and stage performances. Their take on this idea doesn’t always work for me, but when they get it right, it can turn out a very charming, interesting, and/or impactful film. Tampopo, I think, does generally do this well. The main story with Goro and Tampopo herself feels like a cross between a Western, with the traveler coming into town to help out the struggling locals, and a sweet little indie movie, with the more low-stakes (relatively speaking) conflict and the quirky yet earnest characters. Honestly, the film lampshades the Western angle with the way it ends (which I won’t spoil), so you know that’s what they were going for. On the note of earnestness, that’s probably a good way to describe the vibe I got from the main story. The determination of Tampopo’s to improve her skills and of Goro’s to help her, the initially-douchey-and-misguided-but-comes-through-in-the-end drive of Pisken to also help Tampopo with what he can provide, Tabo’s growth of self-confidence and willingness to stand up for himself that’s inspired by his mother’s will to do the same, and so on. Also, lest I forget the “artistic” way they talk about ramen preparation at times (talking about what each component, and the ramen as a whole, must impart to the customer); you can definitely see that there’s a sincerity to this storytelling. Once or twice, it does dip a little into overplay, such as a scene where Tampopo isn’t ready for a rival ramen shop staff, who she challenged to try out her ramen, and they end up overpowering Goro and holding her above the boiling broth, ready to scald her face. Now, granted, this turns out to be a dream sequence, but there was just something about the way in which it was done that didn’t click with me (honestly, it’s hard to put into words exactly). On the whole, though, the main story is a fun mix of down-to-earth and idiosyncratic that makes for an enjoyable experience. In terms of the other scenes, that’s an interesting topic. The film came up with a neat idea for how to work them into the cinematic flow, and that was to start off with a scene following the main characters, but then, as it’s wrapping up, have the camera transition focus to another person that’s moving through the scene in the background. Now, we’re following their story, at least for a little while. I should note, before I talk about some of the scenes themselves, that the scenes generally don’t transition back into the main plot. They might transition into each other, but never do they transition back into the central narrative, and I don’t know if that’s really a flaw or if it’s entirely inconsequential. I debated whether or not it disrupted the continual flow of the film by doing this, as it was certainly noticeable when it happened, but then I’d ask if that “disruption” even mattered, since the scenes served their purpose and didn’t linger. I guess that’s going to be up to the audience. As for the scenes themselves, for the most part, they’re enjoyable, and seem to tap into different aspects of the Japanese culture and social climate (not sure if only “of that time” or if some of this still goes on now). In one scene, a group of salary-men, most of whom are older with one being the young upstart, are going out to eat. All of the older gentlemen order the exact same thing, which in itself is not a particularly high-class dish (they’re drinking Heineken of all things). However, when it comes around to the younger gentleman, he orders a very refined meal that blatantly breaks from what everyone else ordered. Not only has the younger employee broken from his elders’ consensus, but he’s also upstaged them at their own game, which leaves them in a visibly upset and embarrassed state (their faces even go red). In the very next scene, a teacher is teaching her all-female students about the “western way” to eat noodles. Apparently, this “western way” involves not slurping the noodles, even though the westerner sitting at the table just across from them is slurping away, so the students try their best to be “western,” but eventually everyone just says forget it (not literally) and slurps to their hearts’ content. This is an interesting portrayal of, not just culture clash, but culture clash based on perceptions that may not even be true. I’d imagine an ever-increasing global world (this was the 80’s, after all) and the ever-present involvement of western nations in other countries would probably have led to a lot of situations like this. The last one I want to highlight before I talk about the controversial subplot is a scene involving a dying housewife. Basically, a man runs all the way home to reach his wife, who’s dying on the floor of their apartment. He sobs and begs her not to leave them and encourages her to make dinner for the family. Insanely, she struggles to her feet and actually makes the meal, as debilitated as she is, but as soon as she gets the food on the table, she passes away. The husband then demands the children eat the food, since it was their mother’s last one. I feel like this could be read as either a testament to the “Japanese spirit of determination” (or the expectations of their society, at least), a sort of mockery of that exact idea, or maybe a bit of both (though personally I’m leaning towards the second option, since the played-up nature of the scene seems to give off a satirical edge). Anyway, while most people could probably get enjoyment out of a lot of these scenes, the subplot with the gangster is probably going to be more divisive (if not slightly concerning). Now, this part of the movie is actually what kicks us off, since the first scene is this gangster character sitting down with his girlfriend to watch the movie that we’re about to see, which also involves him getting mad at one of the audience members for eating during the movie even though he himself has a whole roast chicken or turkey laid out on a tray in front of him. This scene is another humorous little bit, but the rest of his story involves food usage of a different nature. A much kinkier nature, by which I mean erotic food play. The next two scenes with him involve him and his girlfriend doing various acts, such as swapping an egg yolk between their mouths, and putting live shrimp under a cup on her stomach and letting them jump around to tickle her. If you thought this film was passionate about food before, then you have no idea. Seriously, though, while I wasn’t quite expecting this turn of events, I didn’t personally find the scenes very off-putting. However, I know that there are many folks out there that are a bit “kink-shy,” so I wanted to note these in case your sensitivities might not vibe with them. In addition to these, there’s another bit of this gangster subplot that might be a tad bit more controversial, depending on your personal standards. It involves a scene where the gangster goes out to the beach and meets the women out there diving for oysters. He takes one and cracks it open, but ends up cutting his lip on the oyster, so one of the younger diving ladies ends up licking the blood off his face. When I first watched this, I was a bit put-off, since the girl in this scene looked rather young, like high-school age maybe, and I wasn’t too keen on that (especially with the obvious erotic symbolism of the scene, with the “blood on the oyster” and all that). Later, when I looked into it, apparently the actress in question was twenty when the film came out, which would mean she, most likely, was around eighteen or nineteen when the scene was shot. I suppose that makes it slightly less bad, but it does still bring up that uncertain concept of “older-younger relations” that nobody really has a clear consensus on (how young is too young, how old is too old and such). I’m not quite sure how I feel about it exactly, and it’s going to have to be up to the individual viewers to determine how they feel about it themselves, but it’s another aspect I felt was worth noting ahead of time.
Other than those bits, though, the film delivers a fun, sincere, and semi-satirical ride through the world of food and its many meanings and applications. I enjoyed my time with this movie, for the most part, and I think it would make for an interesting and unconventional watch around Thanksgiving time. Before you do, though, maybe consider whether or not you’d want to show this to the whole family. There might be some stuff in there that not everyone will enjoy. No matter when you see it, though, you’re always in for a great meal of a movie with Tampopo.