Tampopo - The First “Noodle Western”
A first of its kind in Japan, Tampopo invites people to become immersed into the world of not only ramen culture, but also the paths of various characters whom become intertwined through their combined support to improve a widowed woman, Tampopo, who owns a struggling ramen shop with young child Tabo.
When her son is bullied by neighborhood kids, two truck drivers Goro and Gun offer a helping hand and take the boy into a roadside ramen shop “Lai Lai '' which happens to be his mothers. Tampopo becomes profoundly impacted by their visit after they speak frankly about her ramen. She chases them to their truck pleads with one of the truckers Goro roadside asking for him to be her teacher.
Through Goro’s training and advice, they decide to remold the crumbling business into not just a new ramen shop but an embodiment of what ramen should be. Goro fetches his aging “ramen master”, along with the help of a chauffeur Shohei, through one of the intertwined stories.
Through the transformation, the ramen shop is renamed “Tampopo” after her. Her struggles dissipate after much trial and error when in her last effort to reconstruct the broth, all the men in involved devour their bowls of ramen to the very end. In that moment she, finds her way and triumphs over her self conscious character flaws.
Her son stands his ground, along with the other weaving subplots. Particularly that of a young gangster and his lover traversing through the world of food and lustful intimacy. In a twisted fate he dies sharing his secret recipe for sausages no less.
The film Tampopo casts a line into the world of food and relationships in a surprisingly warm comical approach that is understandable and easy to appreciate. It’s no wonder Itami Juzo’s 1985 film is dubbed as the first “noodle western” of its time.
