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 don'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 .