Mute Cornett

A quirky, stylish, and emotional Japanese movie about food, a woman determined make the best ramen she can, and also, in its own way, a Western, as a handsome drifter rides into town, starts a (noodle) bar fight, and shakes up the complacent townsfolk. This was wild and wonderful. It mainly focuses on the owner of the ramen shop—the titular Tampopo—and the band of weirdos she accrues to help her improve her cooking and her business, but while it's doing that it also weaves in short vignettes about the ways other people connect with, and through, food. Recommended!

Contains: lingering shots of food and people eating, first person dentistry (root canal), a murder, two fistfights, some of the weakest bullying I've ever seen on film (almost hilariously so), and a sex scene that incorporates—among other things—live prawns.