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#Tampopo #tampopomovie

This weekend marks 40 years since the release of Juzo Itami’s tour de force “Tampopo.” The described the genre-bending, surrealist social satire as a “ramen Western,” placing it in the “spaghetti” lineage of films popularized in the 1960s.

The overarching storyline follows one woman’s quest to open a ramen shop, supported by a misfit cast that ranges from milk truck drivers (including a fresh-faced Ken Watanabe) to local gangsters. Interspersed vignettes explore everything from the idolization of Western culture to food as meditation and outright fetish. Like ramen itself, the film can be enjoyed as deeply or as superficially as you like.