8 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
A young widow who runs a small noodle restaurant in Tokyo and a cowboy-hat-wearing truck driver attempt to concoct the perfect bowl of ramen.
Starring: Ken Watanabe, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Nobuko Miyamoto, Mariko Okada, Koji YakushoForeign | 100% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Japanese: LPCM Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Juzo Itami's "Tampopo" (1985) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film's recent 4K restoration; archival documentary on the making of the film; new video interview with actress Nobuko Miamoto; new video interview with stylist Seiko Ogawa; and more. The release also arrives with an illustrated leaflet featuring food and culture writer Willy Blackmore's essay "Ramen for the People" and technical credits. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".
Patience, it must be done right
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Juzo Itami's Tampopo arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.
The following text appears inside the leaflet provided with this Blu-ray release:
"This new digital restoration was created in 4K resolution on a DFT Scanity film scanner from the 35mm original camera negative. The transfer was approved by director Juzo Itami's longtime cinematographer Yonezo Maeda. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, and warps were manually removed using MTI Film's DRS, while Digital Vision's Phoenix was used for jitter, flicker, small dirt, grain, and noise management. The monaural soundtrack was remastered from the 35mm original magnetic track. Clicks, thumps, hiss, hum, and crackle were manually removed using Pro Tools HD and iZotope RX.
Transfer supervisor: Lee Kline.
Colorist: Sheri Eisenberg, Deluxe, Culver City, CA.
Color grading: Yoshiaki Abe, Imagica, Tokyo.
4K scanning: Imagica."
The film's transition to Blu-ray is mighty impressive. In fact, I can't think of any other Japanese films from recent years that were remastered in 4K that look as good as Tampopo does. In terms of depth and fluidity -- with the improved density, in particular, being a major factor -- the end results are fantastic. Both the outdoor and indoor footage look exceptionally well-balanced; delineation is at optimal levels as well. Some of the most striking results, however, are in the area of color reproduction and balance. There is an excellent range of solid and very healthy primaries as well as gentle yet nicely defined and beautiful nuances. There are no traces of problematic degraining or sharpening adjustments. Image stability is great. Finally, there are no distracting debris, blemishes, cuts, damage marks, stains, warped or damaged frames to report. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).
There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: Japanese LPCM 1.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.
The film has a very interesting -- quite exotic yet delicate -- soundtrack that benefits greatly from the lossless treatment. There are some short but very important motifs that add a great deal of flavor to otherwise plain looking segments. Dynamic intensity is also very good, though this isn't a film that relies on a wide range of audio effects to impress. The dialog is very clear, clean, and always easy to follow. There are no audio dropouts or digital distortions to report.
Tampopo is a very odd yet irresistibly attractive little film about a group of people who are obsessed with ramen. I thought that its sense of humor was pitch-perfect and unconventional message delivered with wonderful authority and style. Criterion's new Blu-ray release is sourced from a stunning 4K remaster, and I would enthusiastically recommend it to people that wish to see what reference material looks like in high-definition. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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