Slurp up ‘Tampopo’ for a satisfying foodie flick

1985 Japanese classic introduced world to the short-lived ‘ramen Western’ genre.|

Now Streaming

“Tampopo” is streaming on HBO Max. Not rated. Running time 1:54. Visit play.hbomax.com.

If you haven’t already, slurp up “Tampopo,” an uncategorizable delight from 1985 that must be, among other things, a foundational film in the foodie canon. First of all, how many other movies have a character known as “Ramen sensei” (Ryūtarō Ōtomo)? Faced with a steaming bowl, he instructs a young man, Gun (a baby-faced Ken Watanabe), to first “contemplate the ramen,” before digging in. Gun assents, accompanied by some loving closeups of the noodles, scallions, pork slices and golden fat bubbles.

The film briskly shifts our attention to a widow, Tampopo (Nobuko Miyamoto), and her son Shohei (Kinzō Sakura), purveyors of a lackluster ramen spot, a greasier spoon than more popular nearby noodleries. Tampopo’s ambiance suffers because she’s beset by a belligerent goon named Pisuken (Rikiya Yasuoka) who over-imbibes and gets very pushy about the appropriate ramen toppings.

Thankfully she meets Goro (Tsutomu Yamazaki), a tough guy willing to take on Pisuken and defend the honor of the hostess. He’s just like Alan Ladd in “Shane,” except Japanese and riding into town on a milk truck. The following morning, after being revived by some of Tampopo’s pickles, Goro pulls no punches on the faults in her ramen technique. She begs to be his disciple in broth and noodles—no doubt charmed by the widow’s devotion, he begins a training regime that involves both culinary discipline and physical education.

Next comes a fantastic series of scenes where the unlikely partners visit other ramen shops to glean their competitors’ secrets. They’re not above diving into trashcans to learn the ingredients in the broth or flirting their way to an understanding of noodle preparation. Goro even gives a brutal live Yelp review to one noodle slinger with a subpar product. But he determines that he should bring in more experts from the field, leading to a funny and moving sequence at an encampment of homeless freegans, who nab only the choicest discarded food from restaurants and share it with Goro and Co. They might be soot-faced, but they have deep knowledge of sake, ramen and French wine.

Writer/director Juzo Itami leads us on this adventure with loose-handed mastery—he often allows the camera to wander off with a passerby, stringing together tangential vignettes like a series of tasty meals. A group of businessmen are unsure of what to order at a fancy French restaurant, until the hapless young assistant reveals a deep knowledge of haute cuisine. Elsewhere in the same hotel, “The Man in White Suit” (Kōji Yakusho) and his mistress (Fukumi Kuroda) entangle themselves in all sorts of food-related erotics. One unforgettable game involves an egg yolk being exchanged from mouth to mouth, staying intact as long as they can manage.

The associative plot always turns back to the goings on at the noodle shop, where the team transforms Tampopo’s business into a masterfully appointed restaurant that sells only three dishes, prepared to exacting specifications. “Tampopo” will have you yearning for a bowl of ramen (but probably fearful that your favorite local spot might not be up to snuff). Allow Itami’s marvelously idiosyncratic “ramen Western” to open you up to other grand experiments in international cinema.

Now Streaming

“Tampopo” is streaming on HBO Max. Not rated. Running time 1:54. Visit play.hbomax.com.

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