I got back to Sandpoint Idaho and felt the ol' urge to watch actual good movies too. So I went to the library and into the foreign section and loaded up on 7 foreign flicks including this, Tampopo.
I took an edible and wood-worked all day and then put in Tampopo, expecting a romance, or maybe a dumb comedy.
What I got though was a way ahead of its time comedy of small time life, a riff on Western cowboy film, and a commentary on Japanese culture which is a goldmine of comedy if you get the references, which I do...
Tampopo is a small ramen shop worker who encounters a couple mystery men early on. They order ramen and deliver the verdict: it's not good. They have a particular set of skills however, and they call in their best to help this woman train to become the best ramen shop in Japan.
It's fucking hilarious, and the ramen slurping never stops. The plucky young actress in it is great, the cowboy-ish men are hilarious, the stakes are insane, and you'll learn a lot about ramen along the way.
It's maybe 15 minutes or so overly long, but all in all, it's a fantastic journey well worth taking. See it stoned. 4 stars.
