Capital Celluloid 2021 — Day 17: Wed Jun 2

Tampopo (Itami, 1985): Prince Charles Cinema, 5.55pm

This sparkling movie also screens at the Prince Charles on June 12th. Full details here

Chicago Reader review

Juzo Itami's second comedy (1987) represents a quantum leap beyond his first (The Funeral): without abandoning his flair for social satire, he expands his scope to encompass the kind of narrative free play we associate with late Buñuel. His subjects are food, sex, and death, roughly in that order, his ostensible focal point the opening of a noodle restaurant. Working with a venerable cast that includes veterans of Kurosawa, Ozu, Shinoda, and Terayama, he takes us on a wild spree through an obsession, winding his way through various digressions with a dark, philosophical wit that is both hilarious and disturbing. Not to be missed.

Jonathan Rosenbaum 

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