Sûpâ no onna

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.

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.

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.

This is exceptionally Japanese flavored movie, and I'm not sure if the underlying culture is appreciated by audiences outside of Japan.

Hanako (Nobuko Miyamoto) loves super (Japanese for supermarket). One day she meets Goro (Masahiko Tsugawa) at his rival super market Yasu Uri no Daimao ( which roughly translates to Demon King of Discount). She points out to Goro all the faults of the store. Then Goro asks Hanako to come and check out another store. Hanako points out all the faults of that store too. The store turns out to be Goro's own store. Goro asks Hanako to help him turn the business around. Hanako accepts and becomes the head of cash register. She starts to modify the way business is done at the store, and gradually, the store starts seeing more and more customers.

Itami's movie portrays people in compromising position in a comical way. This movie shows the underlying business culture of Japanese supermarkets. Dated meat are ground into ground beef, cutlet that didn't sell yesterday are packed into bento lunch, they unpack yesterday's food and repacks it again and tacks a new date to it. All this to save money. Hanako opposes these business practices head on, and transforms the store into epitome of well run business. But she also encounters many difficult oppositions.

The movie follows the usual Itami's formula where hard working character portrayed by Miyamoto brings success to the business run by Tsugawa. The details are so interesting, it keeps you involved in the story. Some of the ways people react is difficult to understand because it's so Japanese culture specific. Even then the movie is entertaining, and intriguing.

One of the last movies made by Itami is a good production with many interesting plots.

What a delightful and bonkers feel good film! I think if this film were done in America, it would be extremely mediocre, but I think Japanese director Juzo Itami knows when to be subtle and when to be bonkers.