Tampopo (1985)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Juzo Itami

Writer:

Juzo Itami (writer)

Release Date:

September 1987 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

The first Japanese noodle western!

Plot:

In this humorous paean to the joys of food, the main story is about trucker Goro who rides into town...

Plot Keywords:

Noodle | Ramen | Death | One Word Title | Japanese Food

Awards:

4 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Tsutomu Yamazaki	...	Goro
Nobuko Miyamoto	...	Tampopo
Ken Watanabe	...	Gun
Kôji Yakusho	...	Man in White Suit
Rikiya Yasuoka	...	Pisuken
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mario Abe	...	Resutoran no shachô
Sen Hara	...	Old woman, pressing Camembert cheese
Isao Hashizume	...	Waiter
Hisashi Igawa	...	Running man
Kensô Katô	...	Hira
Toshimune Kato	...	Young Employee
Yoshihiro Katô
Yoshi Kato	...	Noodle-making master
Fukumi Kuroda	...	Man in White Suit's Mistress
Nobuo Nakamura	...	Old gentleman
Mariko Okada	...	Supageti sensei
Hideji Otaki	...	Rich Old Man
Ryutaro Otomo	...	Râmen no sensei
Yoshihei Saga	...	Sararîman
Kinzoh Sakura	...	Shohei
Setsuko Shinoi	...	Old Man's Mistress
Hitoshi Takagi	...	Restaurant Owner
Choei Takahashi	...	Sararîman
Ei Takami	...	Homeless
Akio Tanaka	...	Sararîman
Masahiko Tsugawa	...	Sûpâ no shachô
Yoriko Douguchi	...	Pearl Diver (uncredited)
Narutoshi Hayashi	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Juzo Itami

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Juzo Itami		writer

Produced by
Seigo Hosogoe	....	producer
Juzo Itami	....	producer
Yasushi Tamaoki	....	producer

Original Music by
Kunihiko Murai

Cinematography by
Masaki Tamura

Film Editing by
Akira Suzuki

Costume Design by
Emiko Kogo

Sound Department
Fumio Hashimoto	....	sound recordist
Masatoshi Saito	....	sound effects editor

Other crew
Izumi Ishimori	....	food designer

Production Companies

• Itami Productions
• New Century Productions

Distributors

• New Yorker Films (1987) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Republic Pictures Home Video (1988) (USA) (VHS)
• Fox Lorber Home Video (1998) (USA) (DVD)
• Nihon Eiga Satellite Broadcasting (2007) (Japan) (TV)
• Look Vídeo (????) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Republic Pictures Home Video (????) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)

Also Known As:

Dandelion (International: English title)
Ja sitten syödään (Finland) [fi]
Tampopo - Os Brutos Também Comem Spaghetti (Brazil) [pt]

Runtime:

114 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Australia:M | Canada:14A | Singapore:R(A) | UK:18

Company:

Itami Productions

Quotes:

Man in White Suit: I'll kill you if you make that noise once the movie starts! Understand? And... I also don't like watch alarms going off.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Le cinéma passe à table (2005) (TV)

Itami's style fits nicely

The way each scene in Tampopo seems to lead into the next really jarred me when I first started to watch it. Movies with multiple plot lines will often create glaring differences between the scenes, but Itami did the opposite. Ending the bicycle workout scene (with Goro and Tampopo) with the business party walking into the restaurant where the "How to eat Italian food" lesson took place, which, upon conclusion found the camera following a waiter BACK to the business party all occurred seamlessly and left a grin on my face no one else in the room understood. In fact, the pace of the film is very conducive to the second and third viewings. Well, that's my excuse for why none of my friends found it quite as entertaining.