Tampopo

Anthony Bourdain has often cited Tampopo as being his favorite food movie (along with Eat Drink Man Woman, Mostly Martha, Babette's Feast, La Grande Bouffe, The Big Night, and more recently Ratatouille, in which he was also thanked in the credits for his contributions).

And who was that young guy who co-starred in Tampopo?


None other than Ken Watanabe, of course. He was Gun.



In A Cook's Tour: Dining with Geishas Tony also claimed to be a huge samurai film buff, and given Ken's penchant for playing samurai (particularly in Japan, with pretty much every role netting him acclaim and awards), it's highly likely Tony has enjoyed some of his later work as well.

American audiences would be most familiar with Ken's role as the samurai lord Katsumoto in The Last Samurai, co-starring Tom Cruise. That was also Ken's first ever English-speaking role.


It's debatable whether or not Tony has seen it, since he's been fairly outspoken in his dislike for Tom Cruise. It would be a shame if he passed the movie by for that reason alone, because it remains one of Ken Watanabe's finest performances.