Tampopo (awesome foodie movie)

lugaru · February 03, 2007, 10:10:38 PM

Just seriosly urging you guy's to check it out. Probably wont do a review for my website since it's not exactly a new movie nor has a cool new edition been released but this is perhaps one of the best foodie movies I've seen.

On the surface the movie is about a truck driver (Ken Watanabe, aka the japanese guy from every american movie of the last 4 years) and Ramen connoisseur trying to help a woman improve the product in her noodle shop. At the same time the movie often (very often) trails off into sketches or vignettes about our relationship with food.

Stylewise the movie is shot with lots of reverence to older western directors (there's some great Alfred Hitchcock transitions between segments where the camera stops following one character and starts following another) and at the same time it's got those great japanese static shots and lots of kinetics. Also they packed a good ammount of camp and 4th wall demolishing moments. The most obvious influence is spagetti westerns (it's a western style movie in its characters and structure... about noodles!) but you can notice bits of monty python and akira kurosawa left and right.

Like I said earlier, I love food and movies about food (eat drink man woman, god of cookery, babettes feast, etc) and this movie really explores how our apretiation for food ties into class, power, erotica (really bizarre btw), love, duty, patriotism, mourning and other parts of life. So yeah, you are treated to funny segments, sexy (although over the top) parts, sad moments and some downright spiritual pieces like the films ending credits.

Just check it out guys! If you have seen it let me know what you think.

Verfall · February 04, 2007, 04:29:45 AM

Holy crap, I never expected anyone to post about my favorite movie of all time! Seriously, I mention this movie and its plot to people and they give me the weirdest looks. Oh, Ken isn't the truck driver. Tsutomu Yamazaki plays Goro, the main male character. Ken plays Gun, his partner.

But I really mean it, this movie is the greatest movie I've ever seen. One of the few movies that entertained me from start to finish, and never had a slow moment that lost my interest, not even for a second. My only complaint is after watching it you end up so hungry it's ridiculous. Me and 3 buddies watched it together, afterwards we consumed atleast 12 packages of instant ramen.

On my top 3 list of movies, This one is on the top with Sin City and Amores perros(the english title is not suitable for this forum) following in 2nd and 3rd respectively.

lugaru · February 06, 2007, 04:06:03 AM

Good point, I was going by what Ben told me since he was mixed up, I figured the guy looked a little old.

As far as eating goes we were prepared... we made a massive order of chinese and just nibbled away through the entire movie. Also rocks to see you are into amores perros, that is one of my alltime favorites too. Hard rocking feelbad movie.

Uncle Yuan · February 06, 2007, 10:20:46 AM

I, too, am a huge fan. HIghly, highly recommended!

Midnight · February 06, 2007, 02:03:16 PM

:lol:

detourne_me · February 11, 2007, 01:16:47 AM

gonna have to watch this movie...i'm assuming i'd be able to download it?
i really loved amores perros...
and well yeah, im going to have to find this movie!
Lugaru, you seem to watch a tonne of good foreign movies, you mentioned Geum-Ja Shi (sympathy for lady vengeance) in another thread, the only copy i had was french subtitles, a language i havent studied since high school, so it was interesting to watch mixing my limited knowledge of french and korean ><
you guys might be interested in "The Host" , or another translation for it is "Monster" its another korean movie that came out in 2006, and i think its the most successful to date. its a great action with good insights into media-induced paranoia, american influence in asia, and other good stuff.

lugaru · February 11, 2007, 05:03:36 AM

They had the host at the local korean film festival but those dudes always do things while Im at work. Ugh. "Hey boss, Im going to be sick today, I have a film festival". I'll try to get my hands on it asap though, all the reviews are rocking. But yeah, Korea has been putting out good stuff, another one of my favorites is "save this green earth" and "my sassy girl". "Windstruck" (in a similar vein) was a bit too melodramatic for me though. Two good links for foreign film

www.beyondhollywood.com <- these guys are great with reviews, I used to be on their forum but it slowed down a lot.
www.theconnoisseurs.com <- me and some friends just started this site. I will be posting my illusionist vs prestige review soon and also my oscar speculations (every year I pretend to care about the oscars).

Tampopo I actually watched a dvd copy of, which a friend of mine owns. As far as alternate ways to watch it I would have to do some research, expect a PM.

detourne_me · February 11, 2007, 05:48:39 AM

cool. im going to have to explore your site more!
some of my friends say my sassy girl is the best korean movie, haven't seen it yet, but i can get a copy anytime.
asian movies tend to have very dark storylines it seems... koreans have a real passion for the dramatic and disturbing storylines it seems. even in Sex is Zero (their version of American Pie) there are really odd issues with abortion.
I'm not too familiar with Japanese movies but it seems like they focus on intensity and bizarre situations.
And Chinese movies (well Hong Kong dramas, like Wong Kar Wai films) have some more subdued relationship issues.
a lot of the underlying themes have strained relations due to differences in class, or duty, i think... or it could just be my taste in movies. if only Stephen Chow would do more work, then i'd be a much happier person maybe! ha!

Has anyone seen Curse of the Golden Flower yet? by the director that did Hero and House of Flying Daggers.