Myriam Nys A widow with a young child runs a small and unsuccessful restaurant. A chance encounter with strangers allows her to grasp a sad truth : her noodle soup just isn't good enough. Accompanied by one of the strangers, who becomes her mentor, friend and bodyguard, she sets out on a quest to make the very best noodle soup in the city. She's not the only one to worry and obsess about Japanese cuisine : all around her there are people heavily invested in food, for a variety of more or less logical, more or less sane reasons.In "Tampopo" food is used and abused, wasted and exalted, reviewed and gobbled, stolen and shared. The movie examines the myriad ways in which humans deal with the basic need for nutrition and it does so against the backdrop of an highly complex society alternating uneasily between tradition and Western influence. The results, just as in real life, can be laugh-out-loud funny, quietly amusing, striking, heartrending or just plain weird."Tampopo" also knows his classics : at the end, the mentor, friend and bodyguard departs after having performed his noble work, just as any knight-errant (or rather, cowboy-errant) from Hollywood legend. As a Belgian reared on Lucky Luke, I found myself singing "I'm a poor lonesome cowboy and I'm a long way from home"...Much to be commended.

SnoopyStyle Truck driver Gorô and his young sidekick Gun (Ken Watanabe) stop at a rather sad looking noodle shop. They rescue a boy outside from bullies who turns out to be the son of the widowed shop owner Tampopo. Her noodles are not good and she begs Gorô to be her teacher. In desperation, she even tries to buy and steal a soup recipe. They find homeless people who are cooks. With other experts' help, they refine the noodle shop to greater heights. Meanwhile, there is a gangster in a white suit and his girlfriend testing the boundaries of food erotica. Others vignettes also show people with food.This is a strange and wonderful celebration of food. The characters are lovely. Gorô is a cowboy of sorts and even has the hat. It treats the noodle with reverence. Not all of the minor vignettes work but they add to the quirkiness. The old lady who squeezes is odd as hell although I wouldn't call it funny. It's an unusual movie wrapped around a sweet noodle story.

john_hugo Tampopo is a wonderful lighthearted film. There is no antagonist in the film except for possibly "insincere noodles". The film centers around the quest of a shy humble restaurant owner to improve her product. She has no idea what to do, until her hero Goro (a truck driver)arrives by chance in her restaurant and reluctantly agrees to mentor her in the art of noodle creation. Sounds boring, I admit, but it is not. The movie bounces from one absurd scene to another, with one common theme: food. There are even a couple of bizarre and hilarious sex scenes centered around food. Very funny stuff! It also features a very young Ken Wantabe in one of his earliest roles. If you don't mind subtitles, this is a gem of a film: a completely original comedy.

dwpollar 1st watched 11/15/2009 - 7 out of 10 (Dir-Juzo Itami): Funny, perverted yet touching movie about a group of food critics that help a woman become a master noodle cook and start a restaurant. The story doesn't always follow this basic storyline which is kind of interesting but confusing as well at times. The movie is really about food and the way that the Japanese culture views it. They throw in mini-stories that revolve around food obsessions including a couple that begin the movie talking to us(the audience) and are shown at various times using food in their sexual encounters and their other normal activities of life and death. The main storyline starts with a couple of truck-driving noodle soup enthusiasts visiting a restaurant then helping the woman named Tampopo and becoming her coach. There is a sweetness in the relationships between her and her teachers, especially the main character that likes to wear a cowboy hat(which they use to spoof westerns a couple of times). The extra stories that the filmmakers throw in are a little more vulgar which makes for an interesting contrast of styles. The movie is funny and fun to watch for the most part and gives you a good idea of how the Japanese like their Ramen!! Some of the mini stories don't make a lot of sense except they revolve around food --- so overall this feel good movie is very enjoyable despite it's imperfections.