Pocky Plus: A Look at Jiro Dreams of Sushi

Pocky Kitty has been practicing his writing. He recently watched the 2012 documentary, "Jiro Dreams of Sushi." Here are his thoughts:

If you decide to watch “Jiro Dreams of Sushi,” do one of two things. Eat first or get some Japanese food to go and eat it while you are watching the movie. “Jiro Dreams of Sushi” is a 2012 documentary about Jiro Ono, an 85 year old Japanese gentleman who owns a small sushi restaurant in Tokyo. Jiro has been a sushi chef for 70 years and has perfected the fine art of preparing sushi. We learn that, at his restaurant, only sushi is served. As the film progresses, the audience learns why this is so. Jiro employs only seven people and his restaurant only seats ten. Jiro is a perfectionist who has trained his two sons to prepare sushi perfectly as well. His older son, Yoshikazu, now prepares a lot of the sushi himself and could be considered a co-owner of the restaurant. Takashi, Jiro’s younger son, has his own restaurant, one which is quite similar to Jiro’s except it is said in the film to be less intimidating.

“Jiro Dreams of Sushi” is a wonderful documentary. It follows the primary rule of documentary filmmaking: Tell the audience about a subject they did not know about before. “Jiro Dreams of Sushi” is not political, it does not have an agenda, it contains no fake drama such as one would see on a reality tv show, and the film is entirely in Japanese. The film is directed by David Gelb, an American filmmaker. There is no English or Japanese narration in the film. The information imparted in the film is from interviews with and observations of the main subjects of the film. This was a very effective way of documenting Gelb’s subject. I loved the fact that the subjects of the film were telling their own story and that they were allowed to do so in Japanese. Of course, they may speak only Japanese, however, the fact that we got to hear the language and the film did not use English voiceover narration for translation was very much appreciated. I learned a lot about the subject of the film in the brief 81 minute running time. Not only did I learn a lot about Jiro and his sons, but I also learned quite a bit about the preparation and proper way to serve sushi. I recommend this film highly, especially to documentary film fans. It was available to rent from Netflix, but I eated it. They have more, though. You can still see it there. Bye!