ARCHIVED ONLINE EVENT - Japan Society Film Club: Tampopo directed by Juzo Itami

Date
Thursday 4 November 2021
Time
6.30pm (GMT)
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Booking Details
Free - Booking essential
Priority for Japan Society Members

Please remember to watch the film in advance. Tampopo is available on Amazon Prime-Film Box with subscription (7-day free trial available / £4.99/month after trial) and in blu-ray format released by The Criterion Collection.

The activities of the Japan Society are made possible thanks to the support of its members. This event is free of charge and open to all. We realise that this is a difficult time for many people. However, if you are planning to attend and do not have a membership subscription as an individual or through your employer, please consider making a donation. You can find details of membership and how to join the Japan Society community here.

Do you love Japanese film classics, anime or contemporary cinema stories? Do you miss Japan and want to see it at least on screen? Would you like to learn and discuss about Japanese culture and society? Join us for the Japan Society Film Club where we will chat online about films and Japan in an informal atmosphere.

Join us on 4 November for our Film Club dedicated to explore the culinary comedy Tampopo, directed by Juzo Itami in 1985.

Tampopo (タンポポ, tanpopo, literally "dandelion") is the second film written, directed and produced by Juzo Itami in 1985. It is an inventive, satiric, and entertaining comedy exploring Japanese rituals and obsessions about cooking and eating as well as the relationship between love, food and society. It follows a ramen noodle shop owner, a widow named Tampopo (Nobuko Miyamoto), who struggles to succeed in her business and whose ambition is to make the perfect ramen. With the help of two truck drivers (Tsutomu Yamazaki and Ken Watanabe), she will embark in a comical journey to master the art of ramen soup making. A domestic and international success, Tampopo offers a culinary tour de force in 1980s Japan and beyond. You will never eat ramen in the same way ever again!

Juzo Itami (1933-1997) was a prolific and multifaceted actor, scriptwriter and director. Born in Kyoto under the name Yoshihiro Ikeuchi, he was the son of renowned pre-war filmmaker Mansaku Itami, but initially didn’t follow the steps of his father and worked as commercial designer, television reporter, magazine editor, and essayist. He became an actor in 1960 and went on to develop a successful 20-year career, including roles in Hollywood productions such as 55 Days at Peking (Nicholas Ray, 1963) and Lord Jim (Richard Brooks, 1965) and in films by celebrated Japanese directors such as Sing a Song of Sex (Nagisa Oshima, 1967), The Makioka Sisters (Kon Ichikawa, 1983) and The Family Game (Yoshimitsu Morita, 1983). In 1984 he wrote and directed his first film, The Funeral (Ososhiki, 1984), which was acclaimed for its satire of social conventions and became a box-office hit in Japan. In total he made ten feature films included the international success Tampopo (1986), A Taxing Woman (1987 and 1988) and A Quiet Life (1995), based on Kenzaburo Oe’s writing about his autistic son. His satiric film on Japan’s crime syndicate, The Gangster’s Moll (1992), provoked a near-deadly attack on him by the yakuza. He died in 1997 falling from the roof of his office’s building in an apparent suicide, although the involvement of the organised crime in his murder is also discussed.

Japan Society Film Club usually takes place on the first Wednesday of the month, but please note November's event will be held on a Thursday. We will recommend a film to watch in advance and meet online to discuss. Films are often available online for free, on DVD, online platforms or on BFI player. When possible, we will invite film experts to introduce and lead the discussion, but the event is open to all and we encourage participants to freely express their opinions and feelings about the films.

If you have any questions, please call the Japan Society office on 020 3075 1996 or email events@japansociety.org.uk.

Film Gathering: Love Letter by Kinuyo Tanaka + post-screening discussion

Taking the opportunity given by the return of BFI Japan 2021, a two-part season celebrating the illustrious history of Japanese cinema at BFI Southbank, we are pleased to invite a small group of members and friends to gather to watch the film Love Letter directed by Kinuyo Tanaka in 1953 on Saturday 6 November at 12.30pm.

More information here

Booking Info