Storks (1985)

3 April 2017

Tampopo (1985) is a "Ramen Western" from Japan that was showing at the AFI Silver, having been restored to 4K courtesy of Janus Films. The base plot of the film is two truck drivers help a woman turn around her ramen business, with strange subplots and vignettes about social commentary or non sequiturs in between, but always with food as a linking thread. A friend recommended I see this film, saying it was surreal and odd enough that I would probably enjoy it. As I've been going through Kurosawa films, the movie reminded me in parts of Ikiru, with commentary on the classism and culture of the country (although much more overt). Also, where I consider Kurosawa an artist over a filmmaker (which sometimes hurt the pace of his stories), director/writer Jûzô Itami was a filmmaker that did a fantastic job structuring and constructing this film to be engaging from beginning to end. After watching this, I could tell this would be great to see it again in the future, if only to better follow the intricacies of cooking a better bowl of ramen. Taking into consideration the time it came out, as well as how it was presented, it holds up incredibly well after 30 years without coming out as goofy or pretentious, and I can heartily recommend it for anyone to see at least once. And yes, I did enjoy it. 10/10