Supermarket Woman

Japanese language, English subtitles. A new supermarket 'Bargains Galore' opens, and threatens the longer-established 'Honest Goro' with its aggressive price cutting. The owner of 'Honest Goro' (Goro, played by Masahiko Tsugawa) inspects the new store, and bumps into an old classmate he hasn't seen for years (Hanako, played by Nobuko Miyamoto). She uses her 'housewife's know' to show him why his supermarket is performing so badly. He resolves to make his supermarket the best in Japan, and gives her a job as head cashier. Product Description

Quality or Quantity

"Supermarket Woman" ("Supa no onna") is the fourth in director Itami Juzo's "woman" series, that started with his 1987 film A Taxing Woman. All of them follow similar themes, featuring his plucky wife Miyamoto Nobuku who tackles the big boys with nothing more than spirit, common sense and a great big smile.

This one tells the story of a local grocery store, Goro's, that has to face a new challenger in the undercutting Bargain's Galore. The owner of Goro's is despondent, until a chance encounter with former classmate Hanako (Miyamoto) gives him a ray of hope. Hanako convinces Goro to set up his store around the needs of the housewives who do all of the shopping, and the idea of pushing quality rather than shoddy quantity.

The plot is simple, but carried out with Itami's usual comedic style. The humor is more smiles than guffaws, although there are plenty of laughs to be had. The theme is still relevant, pitting local small businesses against giant chain stores, and provides a roadmap to success for those willing to fight.

Like the rest of his "woman" series, Itami does not shy away from sexuality and "Supermarket Woman" is no different. At the time of this filming, Miyamoto was 51, but neither she nor her director husband were ashamed at showing the sex life of the middle aged, and there is one really charming scene in particular. It is the kind of natural, human way of looking at things that it so often missing from American flicks, where sex must be played for comedy or arousal, and not just a part of human nature.

Itami's flicks are just pure feel-good fun, promoting a better world where the nice guys finish first and a spunky young woman can change the world. He is the Japanese version of Frank Capra, and while his films can be just as corny they are also just as much fun to watch. I want to live in Itami's world.
June 30, 2008

Great movie - Tampopo was still better

I was surprised to find zero reviews for this movie thus far, while Tampopo has nearly 90 reviews across its dual Amazon entries.

Being both a foodie and Japanese, I love movies dealing with other food obsessed people, and it's just a bonus if it's a Japanese film. After watching both Tampopo and this film, it's very obvious that Juzo Itami was a foodie.

Supermarket Woman features Nobuko Miyamoto, the same actress from the Taxing Women series - as a supermarket expert (by way of being "just another housewife"). The plot is pretty simplistic - a big (Walmart) name supermarket comes into town, slashes prices, uses underhanded tactics to drive their competitors out of business. Meanwhile, the owner of the local grocery store - who's long lost his love for the job - gets a fire lit under him by the Supermarket Woman to improve quality, raise worker morale, and beat the big, nameless company. You can probably guess who wins.

That being said, the acting can probably be called "over the top" and silly, but very "Japanese," - ie: something you'd see on a normal NHK broadcast. There were several points in the movie that had me laughing out loud as well as inwardly groaning in several "They didn't just do that!" moments.

If you're a foodie, even though there isn't really any cooking in this movie, you'll still love this movie. Afterall, the quality of your ingredients makes the biggest impact on the quality of your food.

If you're a Japanese culture fan, you'll probably still enjoy this film, however it is very akin to watching a sitcom from the 80's and assuming that the United States is still like that - this film is very "old" so the culture aspect is out of date, but it will still give you some insight. May 6, 2008

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