THE FILM:
Director David Gelb traveled all over the world researching sushi restaurants in preparation for a documentary he planned to make on the bite sized entrees. In the commentary on this disc he says that he originally planned to cover various restaurants and sushi chefs but once he ate at the tiny Sukiyabashi Jiro, his film suddenly found a singular and personal focus. His find not only brought the art of sushi making down to a very intimate level for the audience but enabled him to make one of, if not the, best documentaries of 2011.
Eighty-five-year-old Jiro Ono has been doing the exact same thing day in and day out for most of his life. He strives for perfection and feels that by repetition of the exact same tasks he can find the most minute ways to continually improve his art. He makes sushi. He is the owner of an extremely small (ten chair) sushi restaurant located in a Tokyo subway station. Reservations are required and begin at the earliest one month in advance. He hosts approximately 30 guests per day offering 20-piece, three course sushi meals that begin at $300 per person. And he is considered, bar none, the greatest sushi chef in the world.
JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI manages to be an amazingly informative film about the mechanics of sushi making while also being a very personal look at a relationship between a father and his sons. We follow Jiro’s family and staff as they shop for the finest ingredients at Tsukiji Fish Market and meet the experts whom they trust. We see the meticulous preparation of the ingredients from octopus being massaged for an hour to bring out texture to their secret of keeping rice at body temperature. We meet Jiro’s small but dedicated staff and see what it means to them to get his seal of approval. One chef literally worked for years, making hundreds of egg dishes before Jiro approved of them. The expression on his face as he relates the emotions that swept over him when he received Jiro’s approval is deeply touching.
But the core of this film is the relationship between Jiro and his two sons, the younger Takishi (who runs his own sushi restaurant) and elder Yoshikazu who will take over Sukiyabashi Jiro when his father retires. The story of their apprenticeship and the enormous pressure of following in Jiro’s footsteps ground the film in a very sobering light. Even though Jiro basically oversees the creation of the sushi these days (and his son was actually the chef who made the meal that put the restaurant in the prestigious Michelin Guide), he is well aware that it is his reputation and name that people associate with the restaurant and despite the high quality his sons bring to sushi making, they will have a tremendously difficult time maintaining the status of the restaurant when he is gone.
THE DISC:
The anamorphic 1.85 transfer looks excellent.
The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 stereo mix is good but is only really utilized for the many pieces of Philip Glass and classical music used throughout the film.
THE EXTRAS:
The supplements kick off with a laid back yet very informative commentary with Director David Gelb and Editor Brandon Driscoll-Luttringer. While you get the basic nuts and bolt about how the film was made, this track is also enlightening in information about things seen but not explained in the movie itself, like the importance of a small handwritten notepad we see several times in the kitchen. Definitely worth a listen.
Just under 21 minutes of “Deleted Scenes” are all fascinating and recommended.
If that wasn’t enough, the “Masters” section includes 20 MORE minutes of additional footage with the various experts Jiro relies on in the Tsukiji Fish Market. It is broken into four sections each one dealing with a specific person: “Tuna Master,” “Shrimp Master,” “Octopus – Halibut Master” and “Rice Master.”
A “Sushi Gallery” features mouth watering beauty shots of all of sushi made in the film.
The original Theatrical Trailer rounds out the supplements.
MY SAY:
JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI, and you probably will too once you see this excellent documentary about the man considered to be the world’s greatest sushi chef. Very Highly Recommended!
Magnolia Pictures / 2011 / 81 mins / PG