Becoming a better storyteller by studying 100 movies, 50 screenplays, and 25 books in 2020.
Imagine, if you will, that the Monty Python troupe were Japanese and set out to make a western about an epic quest for the perfect bowl of ramen. That’s Tampopo.
- Release: 1985
- Starring: Ken Watanabe, Nobuko Miyamoto, Kôji Yakusho
- Director: Jûzô Itami
- Screenplay: Jûzô Itami
- Spoilers? Yes
Let me begin by saying I know less than nothing about Japanese film. In fact, I think this is the first Japanese film I’ve ever seen. So forgive me, please, ahead of time if (when) I show my ignorance of conventions. To borrow a Rumsfeldian observation, there are both known unknowns and unknown unknowns here.
What works?
In the primary story line, a truck driver (Goro, played by Watanabe), drives into town in a tanker truck bedecked with epic steer horns (catch them in the trailer) and takes pity on Tampopo (Miyamoto), the widowed proprietor of a ramen shop whose wares are, to put it plainly, subpar. He takes her on a quest across the city to learn the finer points of ramen preparation and delivery and ends up cleaning up this ol’ restaurant subculture. This narrative thread played with the traditionally serious overtones of westerns and turned the form into something lighthearted and fun. Move over, spaghetti western. Meet ramen western.
What doesn’t work?
Itami peppers into this narrative satirical/farcical vignettes about the relationship between food, social conventions, and love. For me, these vignettes didn’t always work; farce and I usually mix like oil and water. A few of these vignettes went down easily. A few triggered my gag reflex. And some of them left that delicious what-the-f* aftertaste that often lingers when Americans partake of Japanese culture and some of it just doesn’t translate.
I’m missing something here, but I’ve no idea what it is. I feel like I’m back in middle school, the kid cut out of the joke and left confused, but without the mortifying social isolation. The social isolation part came later, when my daughter walked by the room, peeked in at the screen, and asked, “Mom? Why are you watching porn?”
To be clear, I wasn’t watching porn. I was watching this scene. Or, more to the point, I was watching the palms of my hands because all that egg yolk business triggered my sensitive gag reflex, and I was waiting for the scene to be over.
I’m not sure the primary narrative, involving Tampopo and Goro, would have been enough of a story on its own, but I’m also not sure the vignettes were the special sauce it needed.
What also didn’t work for me? Casual sexism (yes, the film is 35 years old, but people knew it was bad then too). Also, turtle murder. It’s brief but it’s there.
Tip for writing fiction:
Be playful.
For someone who knows nothing about Japanese film, I found the story (particularly the primary narrative) quirky and engaging. The mashup of genres and tones gave the story a weird and wonderful playfulness that made me want to experiment in other literary genres.
