The second Japanese film I am studying as part of my “East Asian Cinema” module is Juzo Itami’s 1985 comedy Tampopo. (The first, Rashomon, I reviewed here) So I thought I’d treat you guys to another exciting review. So settle down and prepare yourself - this is one weird film.

The plot follows the story of Ms. Tampopo (which means Dandelion in Japanese), on her quest to reinvent her shoddy Ramen bar as the culinary epicentre of… well, Ramen. The two men in the far left of the above photo, Goro and Gun, are truck drivers who stop on their way to a delivery. There they meet Tampopo’s son who is being beaten up by his classmates. They eat at the bar and voice their dislike for her noodles, which results in a fight breaking out with one of her regulars. The next day Goro decides he’ll help Tampopo turn the place into a great eatery. I am aware this makes no sense as he just got beaten up but this film is a lot better if you don’t question it. Or use logic.

That said, it doesn’t sound so strange yet. That’s until you consider the scenes that have absoloutly no bearing on the plot whatsoever. As I’m not a film critic I’ve probably missed some of the hidden underlying meanings, but here is a rundown of a few of the more bizarre cutaways that I couldn’t find any meaning for.

If you plan to watch this film, you might want to skip over this part.

• The film opens with what looks like an LA Gangster and his mistress sitting in a cinema. He then tells the camera he hates it when people rustle sweet papers in the cinema, a point he then proves by starting a fight with someone doing just that. Later in the film he and his mistress are involved in some rather steamy action involving some cake, syrup, some live mollusc things, and later on an egg yolk. I don’t want to expand on the egg yolk because it has to be seen to be believed.
• The same gangster then later goes down to the beach (for no reaso) where he spots a girl no older than 15 catching oysters. He buys one off her and proceeds to cut his lip trying to eat it out of it’s shell, so she cuts it out for him then licks the blood off his lips whilst her family watch from the sea. Don’t ask

• Towards the end of the film the gangster is shot by an unidentified killer and, with his dying moments, explains to his distraught mistress how eating yams out of a wild boar’s intestine is divine.
• A store clerk spends a good three minutes chasing a grandmother around his supermarket as she keeps squeezing his food.
• Six businessmen all order food in a fancy restaurant. The five older members all order the same thing, the young intern then orders in fluent French, causing the other businessmen’s faces to turn bright red.
• Goro recruits the following people to help him in his quest;
  • A homeless doctor.
  • The chef of a man who’s life he saved when he ate too much food.
  • The man he had a fight with.
• A man runs home to his dying wife, with his kids crying around her. As he arrives he shouts “Don’t die! You have to live! Say something! Sing! Cook dinner! Cook our dinner!” The dying woman then gets up, makes dinner, serves it and dies in front of her family. The man’s reply? “Eat up, it’s the last meal she made.”
• A man goes to a dentist and has some work done, resulting in the doctor and two nurses reeling from a mysterious smell coming from his mouth. As he leaves, one of the nurses begins to dance even though no music is playing throughout the scene.
• In the final scene, the camera pans from Goro and Gun leaving in their truck to a woman breastfeeding a baby and the credits roll. This is the first time either the woman or the child have been in the film.

You can stop skipping now!

I warned you this film had some… odd moments. But despite that it is a hilareous film, and I 100% reccomend it to anyone who doesn’t want a “serious” film. It’s funny and weird in equal amounts. Most of the main characters are suprisingly well developed considering they are jostling for screentime with strange grandmothers and an irritable gangster. Just don’t try writing an essay on it.

Wait, that’s what I have to do. Oh dear

I’ve finalised my travel details for returning to Japan, so hang on for such exciting details as my flights and how drunk I plan to get. (Very).

Finally, happy birthday to Jamaipanese!

This entry was posted on Friday, March 7th, 2008 at 7:07 am and is filed under Culture, University. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.