84: Tampopo

            It is human nature to love food.  It’s the only one of the three basic human vices that isn’t assigned taboo status by most Western religions.  I had a professor at a religious college who once said that American Christians tend to be overweight because while the church vilifies sex and alcohol, it out and out encourages us to stuff our faces.  Even holidays that require fasting end with a pig-out session.  Gluttony may be a sin when it comes to sermons, but I’ve been to more church potlucks than I could possibly count.  This irony would seem odd, to say the least, in many Eastern religions, where culture dictates an almost spiritual connection to indulging in food.  This connection is the subject of Jûzô Itami’s Tampopo (1985), a film that begets hunger, and then satisfaction, in more ways than one.

             Itami’s film may just be the cure for anorexia nervosa.  While it’s certainly not the only piece of Southeast Asian cinema to focus on food, it is one of the finest examples of this cinematic trend.  The film centers on Goro (Tsutomu Yamazaki), a truck driver compelled by his copilot, Gun (Ken Watanabe in an early role) to pull over to a humble noodle stand in metropolitan Japan.  Upon entering, Goro, a visual marriage of Indiana Jones and the Marlboro Man, immediately falls for the widowed noodle chef Tampopo.  Though her cooking leaves something to be desired, Goro feels compelled to defend the honor of the shop and picks a fight with the rowdy patrons.  He vows to help the noodle mistress to perfect her recipes and to reopen the shop to great success.

            As Goro and Gun enlist the help of several aids, including a so-called “noodle master” and a jovial chauffer, Tampopo meanders around the city, following whomever seems to be invested in seeking pleasure from sustenance.  In a particularly humorous scene a number of business executives plan to lunch at a French restaurant.  When the eldest among them wishes to save face by not admitting that he does not read French, he orders a simple meal.  The others follow suit.  Down the line they each utter variances of “I’ll have the same,” until the youngest, fluent in French, breaks the sequence to order an elegant feast.  The speechless shock in the room is a priceless moment, and left me as satisfied as any French delicacy could.

            Focus shifts for several brief interludes to a flashy local Yakuza who, along with his mistress, likes to mix his vices.  Much has been made of a scene in which they sensually share the contents of a raw egg.  Along with these elements there are moments of pure joy in Tampopo that convey a deep love for cinema.  A short scene, nearly free of dialogue, in which a tramp cooks an omelet for Tampopo’s son is a clear homage to Chaplin’s The Kid (1921).  In another inspired gesture the structure of the film is not unlike that of the prototypical Western.  Goro rides into town and stirs up trouble, but vows to help the widowed shopkeeper to keep her business.  Her son comes to idolize him, and an unspoken love blooms, but the hero rides out into the sunset, just as he came. 

            Indeed Goro and the unlikely, almost comical, team he assembles do save the day.  Through countless hours of training, and a bit of scheming as well, they make Tampopo’s stand the best in the city.  Throughout this process I got so hungry I almost went out for noodles myself, and gave serious contemplation to a cup-o-ramen in my pantry.

Good films make you wish that you were living them, or least that you had the courage to live through them.  Tampopo loves movies almost as much as it loves food, and it’s a treat for any movie lover.  It regards food as a necessity, but one that should be enjoyed in any and all ways possible.  It is a film that is ridiculous in nature, but one that is honest enough with itself to understand the truth which it contains: food is life.  In a prologue, the Yakuza explains that a movie of our life flashes before our eyes just before it ends.  As this film ends a life is shown at its beginning, and it’s no surprise that it’s hungry.

Language: Japanese

Runtime: 112 Minutes

Available @Youtube.com

Grade: 3.5 Hats Off