Juzo Itami’s “ramen western” TAMPOPO is… just a delight. The lines that separate class, sex, and generations are broken through the lens of food in vignettes that surround a sweet, satisfying A plot. The mundane and universal is elevated to indulgence through the presumption of taboo, with each character’s indulgence – a meddling supermarket crone, a wealthy, browbeaten elder, a gangster’s hedonist escape – building them as more human than caricature.

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Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Closing music: "Sonata for Bassoon and Cello in B-Flat Major, K. 292-196c - III. Rondo (Allegro)" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart from the TAMPOPO soundtrack.

Timestamps

0:00 - Episode 257: TAMPOPO (1985)

4:01 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary

13:26 - The vignettes

21:45 - A movie about indulgence

27:17 - The silly and the serious living together

32:31 - The gangster subplot and life as a short film you watch at death

45:12 - Treating everything with respect, whether silly or profane or deadly serious

48:29 - The birth of the “ramen western”

53:44 - The Junk Drawer

57:41 - Other Loves We’ve Tried: 1985

59:47 - Good Grief, Give Me a GIF!