TAMPOPO

Japan, 1986, 117 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Juzo Itami.

Tampopo is a popular Japanese comedy written and directed by Juzo Itami, writer and director of the very popular satire The Funeral, as well as the two A Taxing Woman movies.

Tampopo was advertised as a film about noodles and sex. It also has overtones of the American westerns, particularly Shane. It is a humorous story of a woman trying to run a noodles restaurant, learning how to develop her skills in a great range of ways while fending off difficult customers, being friends with tanker drivers and building up a new Tampopo restaurant.

The plot is interlaced with visual asides: a gangster having a champagne brunch in a cinema, a group of businessmen dining in an expensive restaurant, the gangster and his girlfriend playing erotic games, the gangster shot and collapsing in the streets. These humorous interludes act as a kind of chorus for the main action.

The film is full of humanity - with a light and satiric touch. The film has a lot to say about Japanese traditions, Japanese eating habits - and the influence of the West and commercialism.

1.Popular Japanese comedy? Its popularity outside Japan? The work of the director and his satires?

2.The restaurant environment, the eating section, the kitchen? Tampopo's house? The contrast with the settings for the interludes? Musical score?

3.Tampopo, as a person, woman, proprietress of the restaurant? Pisken and his unwelcome advances? Goro and his milk truck? Gun and his reading, expertise on noodles? The fight with Pisken and Goro and Tampopo looking after him? Her reaction to his criticism of the noodles? Her wanting to become a great cook? The time and motion techniques? The information from the other restaurants? Tampopo, learning, cooking? Looking after the guest who was choking? His chef - and his coming to help Tampopo? The prosperity, the changing of the name of the restaurant? The new opening - and Tampopo a success?

4.Goro, his personality, driving his milk tanker, listening to Gun and his reading? Their interest in noodles? Stopping at the restaurant for the snack, the introduction to Tampopo, the clash with Pisken, Goro as their victim? Tampopo nursing him? His regard for her, his criticism of her noodles? His working with Gun and applying efficiency techniques to the work? His going to the other noodle restaurants, spying out, picking up tips? The master chef (the gynaecologist) and the training of Tampopo in her cooking? The restaurant, the elderly man choking? His recovery? Goro and his final clash with Pisken? Vanquishing him? A genial man?

5.Gun, his friendship with Goro, the driving, reading the book, the appreciation, of noodles? Meeting Tampopo, the fight, Goro and his recovery? Working with Goro for efficiency? Spying things out? His helping Tampopo with the choking man? The new chef? The fight with Pisken? The reconciliation between Goro and Pisken? Gun bringing in his friends, the remodelling of the diner? Pisken and his help, Goro and his help? The redecoration? The final confrontation, Gun going off with Goro?

6.Pisken drinking, admiring Tampopo, the fight, the attack on Goro? His unwelcome attentions? Seeking out Goro for the fight? Their becoming friends? His helping with the restaurant? His own contribution - the onions? His men redecorating the restaurant? The happy ending?

7.The dramatic interludes: their purpose, punctuating the action, the counterpoint? The gangster and his style, the champagne brunch in the cinema, his warning people not to make any noise - and his speaking to the audience? The contrast with the businessman dining, the expensive restaurant - and the irony of the young executive the only one with a knowledge of French? The comment of the teacher of etiquette about the westerners and slurping their noodles - the guest in the restaurant not living up to her expectations? The contrast with the gangster and his girlfriend, the raw egg yolk? The gangster and his memories of the girl who was fishing for oysters? The story of the man with the toothache, the train, the abscess being lanced - and the celebration in the park with ice cream? The story of the crazy woman, spoiling the food in the supermarket, the manager catching her? The manager and his meal, the conman arrested - and the double swindle? His going home, the wife dying, he revives her by asking her to cook for the whole family - and the tongue in cheek action of her dying happily after the compliments on the food? The finale with the gangster, collapsing in the street - and the irony of his dying words to his girlfriend: "Boar intestines stuffed with yam!"? The final image of the film with the mother and the baby at the breast? The sequences in themselves - irony, wit, spoof? As punctuating the action?

8.The evocation of the American westerns, the stranger coming into town, taking over, fighting the villains, helping those who are good - and leaving again (echoes of Shane)?

9.Noodles in the Japanese tradition? Their preparation, delicacy, the way they were cooked, eaten? Various recipes? The importance of the restaurant and its traditions? (And the irony about Chinese noodles!)

10.A tongue in cheek look at contemporary Japan and its traditions? Its cinematic styles?