A lavishly inclusive paean to the sensual joys of nourishment, Tampopo is one of the most mouthwatering food movies ever made. In this rapturous “ramen western,” written and directed by Juzo Itami, an eccentric band of culinary ronin (including Kōji Yakusho and Ken Watanabe) guide the widow of a noodle-shop owner (Nobuko Miyamoto) on her quest for the perfect recipe. The resulting adventure is sweet, sexy, surreal, and thoroughly entertaining, a genre-bending picaresque underpinned by a deft satire about the ways social conventions distort our urges and appetites.