Tampopo

Part spaghetti western, part hard-boiled detective story, part comedic sketch compilation, and all over poor girl made good film, Tampopo is the Juuzo Itami film most known in the West. And with good reason. With just enough sex and death to keep things interesting, and just enough close human observation and humor to keep you smiling, Tampopo (it means ‘Butterfly’, which is the name of the main character, and also the name of her noodle restaurant) is hard not to love. With its love of craft, perfecting one’s skills, and of appreciating fine things in life (before it’s too late), Tampopo somehow says everything within its few dozen minutes.

Lovely stuff. Grab a copy if you can.