This is quite literally food pornography in many scenes. You can accurately judge the whole film by the credits scene, which is a 2 minute close up of a woman's nipple as she feeds her baby.
The film documents the rather Japanese obsession with food and the "correct" way to eat, prepare, or order it. You can tie it into sexual repression and the replacement of enjoying food instead of enjoying sex. (There is no kissing or sex between any of the characters in the two main love stories, unless food is in their mouths.)
The main story of a woman seeking to become the best noodle chef is supplemented by several short scenes of random strangers that are loosely based on the food theme as well, but otherwise have nothing to do with the main narrative. A lot of people would probably like this film a lot more if those unrelated scenes were cut out, leaving the main narrative at about 1 1/2 hours. As is, they are often very seriously filmed while meant to be darkly, bizarrely comical. I don't think many people will find them funny, and some scenes actually reinforce a lot of negative ideals in Japan. For example, a couples' food fetishism beginning when a gangster buys an oyster from a child diver (she might be 12 or so) and eats it from her hand, whereby they start making out. A husband attempts to keep his wife alive a few minutes longer by demanding she make the family dinner before dying. An old lady with dementia damages all the food in a grocery store while "inspecting" it, and the store owner chases her around the store.
These highlight very real issues in Japan. Ignored mental illness in the elderly. Rigid gender roles and unhappy marriages. The worship and fetishization of young girls by men old enough to be their fathers. Far from being a document of these issues, the film does not seem to censure them in anyway, and actually to support them a bit. Take them out and you're still left with a main story that has hollow comedy, is mired in boring details, and has an irresolute love story. And it's all built around the idea that a woman needs a team of men to teach her how to be a good noodle cook, despite one's comment that "I never believed a woman could be as good of a noodle chef as a man!"
Frankly, it's a movie that is cleverly directed, but whose story and tone were archaic at the time, and are even more disgusting by modern standards. Look elsewhere for depth or entertainment.
The film documents the rather Japanese obsession with food and the "correct" way to eat, prepare, or order it. You can tie it into sexual repression and the replacement of enjoying food instead of enjoying sex. (There is no kissing or sex between any of the characters in the two main love stories, unless food is in their mouths.)
The main story of a woman seeking to become the best noodle chef is supplemented by several short scenes of random strangers that are loosely based on the food theme as well, but otherwise have nothing to do with the main narrative. A lot of people would probably like this film a lot more if those unrelated scenes were cut out, leaving the main narrative at about 1 1/2 hours. As is, they are often very seriously filmed while meant to be darkly, bizarrely comical. I don't think many people will find them funny, and some scenes actually reinforce a lot of negative ideals in Japan. For example, a couples' food fetishism beginning when a gangster buys an oyster from a child diver (she might be 12 or so) and eats it from her hand, whereby they start making out. A husband attempts to keep his wife alive a few minutes longer by demanding she make the family dinner before dying. An old lady with dementia damages all the food in a grocery store while "inspecting" it, and the store owner chases her around the store.
These highlight very real issues in Japan. Ignored mental illness in the elderly. Rigid gender roles and unhappy marriages. The worship and fetishization of young girls by men old enough to be their fathers. Far from being a document of these issues, the film does not seem to censure them in anyway, and actually to support them a bit. Take them out and you're still left with a main story that has hollow comedy, is mired in boring details, and has an irresolute love story. And it's all built around the idea that a woman needs a team of men to teach her how to be a good noodle cook, despite one's comment that "I never believed a woman could be as good of a noodle chef as a man!"
Frankly, it's a movie that is cleverly directed, but whose story and tone were archaic at the time, and are even more disgusting by modern standards. Look elsewhere for depth or entertainment.