Tampopo | Blu-ray & DVD (Criterion)

Tampopo | Blu-ray & DVD (Criterion)

RELEASE DATE: April 25, 2017

The Criterion Collection announced today that it plans to bring Juzo Itami’s Tampopo to DVD and Blu-ray on April 25, 2017. Starring Nobuko Miyamoto (A Taxing Woman), Tsutomu Yamazaki (Departures), Koji Yakusho (The World of Kanako), Rikiya Yasuoka (Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter), and Ken Watanabe (Godzilla), Tampopo is a surreal comedy favorite both in its native Japan and among international audiences.

From Criterion: The tale of an eccentric band of culinary ronin who guide the widow of a noodle shop owner on her quest for the perfect recipe, this rapturous “ramen western” by Japanese director Juzo Itami is an entertaining, genre-bending adventure underpinned by a deft satire of the way social conventions distort the most natural of human urges, our appetites. Interspersing the efforts of Tampopo (Nobuko Miyamoto) and friends to make her café a success with the erotic exploits of a gastronome gangster and glimpses of food culture both high and low, the sweet, sexy, and surreal Tampopo is a lavishly inclusive paean to the sensual joys of nourishment, and one of the most mouthwatering examples of food on film ever made.

Special Features:

• New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• The Making of “Tampopo,” a ninety-minute documentary from 1986, narrated by director Juzo Itami
• New interview with actor Nobuko Miyamoto
• New interviews with ramen scholar Hiroshi Osaki; food stylist Seiko Ogawa; and American chefs Sam White, Rayneil De Guzman, Jerry Jaksich, and Anthony Bourdain
• Rubber Band Pistol, Itami’s 1962 debut short film
• New video essay by Tony Zhou and Taylor Ramos on the film’s themes of self-improvement and mastery of a craft
• Trailer
• New English subtitle translation
• PLUS: An essay by food and culture writer Willy Blackmore

Pre-order Tampopo from Amazon.com today!