seen at the 21st portland international film festival film title : supermarket woman director : juzo itami country : japan 1997 cinematography : yonezo maeda music : toshiyuki honda cast :
nobuko miyamoto , masahitko tsugawa , shiro ito , yuji miyake ,
akiko matsumoto super features : typical itami film . . .
funny and pointed in its own way .
if you do n't care how and what the food you buy goes through in your local supermarket , then this film is not for you . . . .
maybe it is better to ignore it , as this strong and biting satire , as only juzo itami can deliver , will give you an insight as to what some foods go through . having , in the past , made films that pulled every punch imaginable , from the family traditions ( the funeral ) , to taxes ( a taxing woman & a taxing woman returns ) , to the diabolical gangsters ( minbo ) , to hospitals ( the seriously ill ) , juzo itami , this time takes on the supermarkets ' own war , to get the consumers . and while this film has its funny side , in the crazy situations that it creates , it also shows another side , which is very much the attitude of a corporate structure that is more concerned with its profits than it is with any customer .
goro has a supermarket .
and a competitor comes into the neighborhood , trying to take him out of business by providing less expensive prices for everything that is sold in the supermarket .
bargains galore , its name , has in mind the closure of goro 's humbler venue , so that in the end it can mark up its prices in any way it can .
goro hires hanako , a housewife whose talents seem to be better suited to management , than they are in anything else .
hanako , as she gets familiar with the operation , discovers many of the tricks of the trade , done by many of the elders in charge of each section of the market .
and the procedures , are not always " fresh " food , but a new packaging and a new date , to try and convince the customers that quality is on the shelves .
hanako 's ideas take hold , starting with a few of the women that work in the supermarket , being that they do not even shop there at all .
and hanako discovers along the way that a few giveaways here and there make a bit of a difference .
if not cause some serious problems in the running of the store .
a price error , forces them to give away eggs for very low prices , and causes the store a few hassles , but , it brought the people in , and everyone knows that these customers will buy a few other things .
as the operation gets stronger , the competition also has trickery up its sleeve , and it has been undermining much of the operation by paybacks to one of the store managers , as well as the meat and fish elder supervisors .
eventually these people are found out , and hanako has to tread slowly and carefully , until in the end they all have a showdown .
and here , the truth and honesty win out , and even one of the elders decides to stay rather than go to work for the corrupt opponent .
in the process , they also find that " freshness " ( with some very funny jokes on this word as well ) becomes a much more important tool than they imagined .
with some very nice performances , in this hectic , and fast paced film , this film gives us a sitting of two hours
that is satisfying in many ways , although a failed love story between goro and hanako does not come off much , even though towards the end it is suggested .
but this would take away from the satire and its strengths .
with food gags all over the place , the film lets you have it .
and
what fun it is .
worth seeing .
( editorial ) the director of this film , juzo itami , died shortly after the film was finished , and he left behind a legacy of comedy and satire that is rare , and uncompromising .
we would wish that he had been able to make one about film making , of which he must have had a few stories to tell , but we will have to do with much of the japanese society , and its many errant ways . . . .
not to say that these things do not happen anywhere else . . . .
america is no less guilty of any of these subjects at all , should anyone have the guts to tackle it .
. .
we could learn something along the way , too . . . .
worth seeing , specially , is a taxing woman and its follow up a taxing woman returns .
the funeral is also good , although not as funny as the later films .
tampopo is also very enjoyable .
all four of these films are available in video , which means your best local site for foreign film may have them . . .
ask for it .
Output: P