Sûpâ no onna

The long-term husband and wife partnership of Juzo Itami (director) and Nobuko Miyamoto (star) has produced some good to great works. The pair here stick to a formula Itami is clearly comfortable and, as always, does a creditable job of it.

The great Nobuko M reminds me of a Japanese version of Margaret Rutherford. Forcefully and energetically positive in whatever tasks she throws herself into. Here, her character Hanako is invited by a supermarket owner (Tsuga Masahiko, a frequent co-star) to give his shop a makeover, to resist being gobbled up by an aggressive new competitor. As always, there's a large collection of oddballs amongst both the goodies and the baddies. I liked best the wild-eyed owner of the big supermarket - no surprise with this guy's face and gravelly voice to find he's a comedian.

There are many things to praise about this film. It's a straight down the line feelgood film with, despite the emnity and seriousness of the subject in real life, little real violence (though some comic violence) and the assurance of a happy end. With a little less violence and some of the light adult stuff trimmed out, this film could pretty comfortably been made by Disney, even pre-1970s.

The passage of the warm relationship of the two leads is heartwarming. There is a scene where they may or may not get into bed together. One of the characters lifts a shirt and the other comments that they are both well-past their use-by dates. Of course the interplay between the various weird characters is a treasure.

If ever you wondered about the sort of hi-jinks that go on behind the scenes of your local supermarket, this film may well confirm your worst fears ! The only aspect of the story I found hard to take, and this is only a small point, is that the owner could be so ignorant of some of these things.

Warmly recommended.

Once again starring his wife, Nobuko Miyamoto, it is the story of her character's campaign to improve the fortunes of a local grocer. Told with Itami's trademark wit and eye for life's oddest characters. I was fortunate to see this at the Seattle International Film Festival in 1997 and am saddened that it has failed to attract domestic distribution. More tragic, of course, was the untimely passing of dir. Juzo Itami shortly after the completion of his last film in 1998.

I really enjoyed this one. It was a lot like Tampopo, the Noodle Western in taking a mundane career and turning it into a Zen-like success. The widow Hanako helps her childhood friend Goro turn his unpleasant store into a bastion of freshness and cleanliness. Hanako's acumen turns the store into real competition for the chain grocery nearby.

Hanako's enthusiasm is never-ending and contagious. Definitely a fun watch.

Cute, wholesome fare. A housewife meets a childhood friend with a grocery store on the brink of being run out of business by a giant new rival (think Walmart), and goes to work for him. Naturally, she starts by laying off the employees who are incompetent (of which there are many), and identifies cost-cutting measures across the board, including working the employees who remain harder and paying them less. Hahahaha no, just kidding, she doesn't do that. This is a feel-good movie, with vibes that would make Frank Capra proud. She helps David (actually "honest Goro") stand up to Goliath by focusing on quality, integrity, customer service, and sticking together to resist the big company's strong-arm tactics. Goro is maddeningly incompetent and the rest of the characters are practically cartoons, but Nobuko Miyamoto's charm carries the film. I also liked how the romance didn't go the predictable route, with the scene that ended in laughter. I'm not sure I believe the high average rating this film has, but it's good-natured, family entertainment.

Just the kind of breezy, relaxed, funny, and even heartwarming film I needed tonight. Supermarket Woman is quite simply about a savvy middle-aged woman helping to revive a struggling supermarket, who are under extra threat by a new, larger store recently opening up nearby.

It's a very low-stakes movie, but you still come to care for the characters and the story. It's just never stressful or feels like it's playing much for drama, which is nice. Tonally, it's just about all comedy, but it never pushes things too far too often to the point where it feels like it's taking place in another reality entirely.

It's terrible to read about what happened to the director - he was apparently killed by the yakuza because of how he featured them in one of his movies. I've liked everything of his I've seen to some extent, but Supermarket Woman might be up there as his best or second best (personally speaking), and it's definitely his most consistently funny and entertaining.

It might help to have worked in a supermarket at some point before watching this, too. There are quite a few moments sprinkled throughout that feel very relatable.