Message from lshifflett

[Anonymous]

Film: Tampopo: written and directed by Juzo Itami, starring Tsutomu Yamazaki and Nobuki Miiyamoto

This film is not rated, but take out the sex scenes and the fighting scenes, and there are still some very funny scenes that can be used to simulate conversation in your classroom on culturally relevant topics. You might have your students do a research paper on polite eating habits in different cultures, sort of a do's and don'ts at the table, depending on where you are and in terms of world history, what time period. You might use the scene where the young ladies are being taught to eat noodles and what happens after they watch the westerner eat noodles. Have students demonstrate their research. Nothing makes a 6th grader happier than belching in front of the whole class, and then being able to explain why it's okay in the country and/or time period where he/she is eating.

The on-going plot of the film is the finding of the perfect noodle soup. And then the film is a series of vignettes that move the viewer ever closer to the perfect noodle. From the moment the film opens with food in the theatre, there are laughs and chuckles. It is certainly a way to liven up history and to introduce a little critical thinking about some of the societal norms we take for granted.

This film has been on the New York Times, Time Magazine and Los Angeles Times top ten film lists and was given four stars by film critic, Roger Ebert.