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Tampopo



The tale of an eccentric band of culinary ronin who guide the widow of a noodle shop owner on her quest for the perfect recipe, this rapturous "ramen western" by Japanese director Juzo Itami is an entertaining, genre-bending adventure underpinned by a deft satire of the way social conventions distort the most natural of human urges, our appetites. Interspersing the efforts of Tampopo (Nobuko Miyamoto) and friends to make her café a success with the erotic exploits of a gastronome gangster and glimpses of food culture both high and low, the sweet, sexy, and surreal Tampopo is a lavishly inclusive paean to the sensual joys of nourishment, and one of the most mouthwatering examples of food on film ever made.

SPECIAL FEATURES

• New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• The Making of "Tampopo," a ninety-minute documentary from 1986, narrated by director Juzo Itami
• New interview with actor Nobuko Miyamoto
• New interviews with ramen scholar Hiroshi Osaki; food stylist Seiko Ogawa; and American chefs Sam White, Rayneil De Guzman, Jerry Jaksich, and others
• Rubber Band Pistol, Itami's 1962 debut short film
• New video essay by Tony Zhou and Taylor Ramos on the film's themes of self-improvement and mastery of a craft
• Trailer
• New English subtitle translation
• PLUS: An essay by food and culture writer Willy Blackmore

Jeff wrote:This has the potential to be one of Criterion's greatest rescues. According to Ryan Gallagher, this restoration is from a new 4K scan of the original negative. The virtually unwatchable old non-anamorphic Fox Lorber disc was from a release print. I saw a 35mm print a few years ago that wasn't much better.

I believe Jûzô Itami's estate owns the rights to this and most of his other work, which should bode well for future releases. They also own the rights to a two hour made-for-TV doc about Itami and a 90-minute one on the making of Tampopo. There are similar feature-length TV docs about several of his other films.

Very exciting - I have the old Republic Laserdisc which is thankfully at least widescreen, but if this does well perhaps we will see the Taxing Woman series as well. This is my favorite Japanese film, it's almost like a Bunuel film. Can't wait for this.

Interview with freelance producer Marty Gross, his relationship with Seijun Suzuki, Criterion and Tampopo. Seeing as he was at the Juzo Itami museum taking photographs, we can only hope this is the first of many to come. He almost mentions working on a top secret project for Criterion that's suppose to come out this year, but is not allowed to disclose.

I saw Tampopo nearly eight years ago and fell in love with Itami's work. I'm often surprised about how many people I met who have seen this film. It has a pretty strong cult following and seems to have been a movie played regularly on IFC back in the 90s. With some proper marketing and promotion, this is totally the type of film that's destined to find a new audience. In the area of Yelp and "foodies", I can totally see it being a hit again. And how many films have moments as outrageous as the egg-making-out scene in them?

I still have the HVE VHS of Minbo and bootleg (and far superior) copies of The Funeral, A Taxing Woman and Supermarket Woman. I believe these all came out on Blu-Ray in Japan (unsubtitled, of course). Not sure who owns the rights to these films, and The Funeral is from ATG which seems like a deep hole of unsolvable rights issues, but hopefully the west gets a proper reassessment of his unique comedies.

The Elegant Dandy Fop wrote:I saw Tampopo nearly eight years ago and fell in love with Itami's work. I'm often surprised about how many people I met who have seen this film. It has a pretty strong cult following and seems to have been a movie played regularly on IFC back in the 90s. With some proper marketing and promotion, this is totally the type of film that's destined to find a new audience. In the area of Yelp and "foodies", I can totally see it being a hit again.

It was also one of the small handful of non-English titles stocked by Blockbuster at the height of their popularity. Definitely a crossover title with some mainstream recognition for those who came of age at that time. I think it absolutely has the possibility to catch on with a new generation of even slightly adventurous filmgoers and foodies, even if Criterion is a few years late for the height of ramen fever. If it does indeed become a big seller for Criterion, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see them pursue some more Itami starting with either The Funeral or the A Taxing Woman films. Since Itami's estate owns the rights to all of them in Japan, I'm guessing they're all still part of the same library.

The Elegant Dandy Fop wrote:And how many films have moments as outrageous as the egg-making-out scene in them?

Jeff wrote: If it does indeed become a big seller for Criterion, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see them pursue some more Itami starting with either The Funeral or the A Taxing Woman films. Since Itami's estate owns the rights to all of them in Japan, I'm guessing they're all still part of the same library.

I have to imagine that this is like the Demy films, where Janus/Criterion picked up all the ones controlled by the estate. Especially since these people pages indicate that they also have A Taxing Woman and Minbô no onna.

The Nuart Theater in Los Angeles is playing this in the last week of October. Tickets just went up for sale and include a (very) small .jpg of the re-release poster by Janus Films. I'm sure a higher quality one will be online soon.

I had just seen the Janus' trailer on a big screen and it looks beautiful. Will try to catch the actually screening in a couple of weeks. Excited for the Blu.

The Elegant Dandy Fop wrote:The Nuart Theater in Los Angeles is playing this in the last week of October. Tickets just went up for sale and include a (very) small .jpg of the re-release poster by Janus Films. I'm sure a higher quality one will be online soon.

I sure hope this won't be the cover. Also a bit of a cheap marketing ploy to put Ken Watanabe's name on there.

How is that a cheap marketing ploy?

I like the poster, though maybe not as a cover. Looking forward to finally seeing it in decent quality and I think it has the potential to do really well, especially in recently ramen-obsessed cities like LA.

I saw the poster in person at the Film Forum. I like it and think it will make a fine cover for the blu/dvd release. It captures the films quirkiness, themes and humor.

I used to watch tv in Japan a lot in the 80s and 90s and very early '00s, and there was always a plethora on ramen - where to find the best, how one of the best makes his / her broth - step by step, noodles, pork (Char Siu) - a very big deal, fascinating, and mouth watering.

D50 wrote:I used to watch tv in Japan a lot in the 80s and 90s and very early '00s, and there was always a plethora on ramen - where to find the best, how one of the best makes his / her broth - step by step, noodles, pork (Char Siu) - a very big deal, fascinating, and mouth watering.

Exactly the sort of extras I'm hoping Criterion loads this up with.

Blu-ray should be announced sooner rather than later

Last week with TAMPOPO star Nobuko Miyamoto!

Saw it at Film Forum, transfer is great, the film itself is the same treasure it always was.

Its wonderful to see Nobuko Miyamoto in that picture! She's one of the major actors who appears not just in Tampopo but throughout all of Itami's films. If anyone hasn't I'd highly recommend checking out the amazing film Minbo no Onna (Anti-Extortion Woman) which is a nicely judged, lightly treated-yet-serious at heart tackling of yakuza extortion tactics, with Miyamoto playing a specialist who comes in to save a couple of bumbling hotel clerks who were hastily promoted to yakuza liaisons, and goes about teaching them the, very political, tricks of playing the yakuza at their own game!

This hit way too personally so I may be over thinking things. What does the gangster serve as beyond being incredibly funny and possibly an Oshima parody?

knives wrote:This hit way too personally so I may be over thinking things. What does the gangster serve as beyond being incredibly funny and possibly an Oshima parody?

I'm curious as to why'd you would think he's a parody of Oshima? I figured he was just part of all the other non-sequitur side paths the movie takes over it's two hours, but maybe I'm missing something.

I actually ended up seeing this movie multiple times during it's run. At the first theater it played at, the concessions counter has nice flyers that were supplied by Janus Films, The Criterion Collection and Lucky Peach (one of the best and most accessible food magazines out there). When you opened it, one side had the poster for Tampopo and the other had a map of Japan that pointed to their most famous regional ramen places and how there food is prepared. And it's incredibly detailed. It tells you if the broth is made from fish, chicken or pork (or a combination of those), the texture and thickness of the noodles and a small synopsis of the restaurant. Plus on the top, it gave you a very nice description of what the components and traditions of ramen are. I'm a real sucker when repertory houses sell new posters or give away free things for seeing their movies (some of my favorites include zines, mini-posters with notes and pins), and this was just an extra nice touch. I grabbed two and gave one to a friend who lives part time in Japan. I wish I grabbed more than one!

The other vignettes seemed to have a purpose expanding upon little threads in the previous section, but the gangster thread is more sustained than that. As to Oshima the sexy food thing and egg reminded me of In the Realm of the Senses.

Great extras on Tampopo. Particularly looking forward to the interviews with ramen scholar Hiroshi Osaki, food stylist Seiko Ogawa and American chefs Sam White, Rayneil De Guzman, Jerry Jaksich, and Anthony Bourdain

I was just looking at that and thought that is terrific as well.

Is this the first video essay assignment for Tony Zhou? His Every Frame a Painting series is wonderful -- erudite and accessible.

This makes me want to add "ramen scholar" to my CV. I've certain eaten enough of the stuff.

colinr0380 wrote:Its wonderful to see Nobuko Miyamoto in that picture! She's one of the major actors who appears not just in Tampopo but throughout all of Itami's films.

Nobuko Miyamoto ... also... Mrs. Itami.

Well that suddenly explains everything!

Beaver... It doesn't get better than this.