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.

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.

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.

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.