Juzo Itami’s film, first released in 1985, was one of the first major art house hits. Certain scenes became iconic almost instantly, like a gangster and his moll sliding an egg yolk back and forth between their open mouths like a bright yellow sex toy. Or the same gangster, in a different scene, cutting his lip on an oyster shell, and a bright red drop of blood falling into the still pulsing folds of the sea creature within.  Equating sex and food is a logical connection (we are all creatures of appetite), but at the time it seemed a revelation. Upon watching the film again, different things revealed themselves, namely that food is the vehicle through which we tend to each other. We feed the ones we love - tenderness, care, and compassion - all carried in a bowl of warm broth. 

“A DAZZLING RESTORATION! Tampopo is right up there with Ratatouille and Big Night when it comes to peerless movies about food.”
– Joe Morgenstern, The Wall Street Journal

“No foodie film is as deliriously, obscenely pleasurable…[It has] a king of food reverence that borders on porn.” 
– David Edelstein, New York Magazine

“An uproarious, tasty series of satirical sketches that celebrate an erotic connection between food and sex.”
– Stephen Holden, The New York Times

“A FILM GOURMAND’S LUSTY DREAM!  A RAMBUNCTIOUS MIXTURE OF THE BAWDY AND THE SUBLIME!”
– Washington Post

“UTTERLY ORIGINAL!  A VERY FUNNY MOVIE!”
– Roger Ebert