by Adam Ritchie, Contributing Writer
Greeting again, fine folks of the Sift-verse. I thought we could take a slightly different approach this month and give you a foreign classic by way of the 1985 Japanese film Tampopo, from director Jûzô Itami.
I first learned of Tampopo’s existence after seeing numerous esteemed and knowledgeable film fanatics rave about it on Criterion Closet picks videos on YouTube. Lucky for all of us, as of right now, you can watch it for free on YouTube in decent quality.
The film starts with two truck drivers, Gorô and Gun (played by Tsutomu Yamazaki and Ken Watanabe, respectively) stopping at a roadside ramen shop run by a single mother named Tampopo(Nobuko Miyamoto).
After Gorô is knocked out in a fight defending Tampopofrom a local thug, and waking up in her home, he and Gun give Tampopoan honest review of her ramen. Having upset her, Gorô becomes a mentor and leads her around town to find the perfect ramen recipe from the local ramen establishments. From here, adventure and some hilarity ensues.
Tampopo shows ramen as both an art and a science. It is a delicate balance of flavou and technique that Gorô and Tampopo quest for in surreptitious ways, so as not the upset the local vendors. Not always successfully.
Tampopo is a sweet, funny, heartfelt, strangely offbeat, delightful piece of cinema. It’s utterly engaging, with its characters being the driving force of the story, and as I watched, I was kind of in love with the entire concept that film can be made this way. I don’t particularly recall seeing anything like Tampopo before. One of its key peculiarities is that it contains several short vignettes — Monty Python-esque digressions — blended somewhat seamlessly into the storytelling. They are completely unrelated to the main plot of the film; however, these vignettes help cement the themes and messages in unexpected ways.
Tampopo speaks volumes on the importance food as a key connective tissue of community. How it provides an unspoken bond as people sit around a table, or bench top, and experience enjoyment that can only be felt at that very moment in time. Not unlike a cinematic experience that I’m sure you all can relate to. Tampopo speaks of infatuation before love, and familial bonds that tie an individual to whomever, or wherever, they choose. How love will make us fight for what and who we believe in, and also how we should encourage and elevate people to be the best they can be.
Food is love, and love is the people we have in our life. Be it family, friends or lovers, Tampopo covers it all.
You can read more from Adam Ritchie, and follow him on Twitter and Letterboxd