Friday for Your Consideration: Jiro Dreams of Sushi

Welcome to a special edition of a seasonal weekly feature here at Movies with Abe, Friday For Your Consideration. As every year nears to a close, there are a number of actors nominated for Golden Globes, Oscars, and countless other awards. There are so many spots and there are so many deserving contenders, yet some inevitably get left out. This week, I’d like to spotlight a film being released today that is sure to be forgotten by the end of 2012.

Jiro Dreams of Sushi
Why it deserves it: This documentary, shown last year at the Tribeca Film Festival and now playing at the IFC Center and Lincoln Plaza Cinemas, is entirely charming. Unlike other nonfiction films, there is no agenda, motive, or bias of any kind. It's merely a chronicle of the endearing 85-year-old Jiro Ono, a master sushi chef still hard at work every day. It documents his enduring legacy and offers a complete portrait of the man and his life.

Standout scene: It's a pleasure to see a leading food critic come dine at the establishment - which charges hundreds of dollars and requires reservations over a month in advance - smile broadly when he speaks about how much he loves coming there.

Why it won’t get it: I can't even begin to comprehend the preexisting rules for documentary qualification, and now they've been changed again, so I'm relatively clueless now. It's possible that it would technically have been elgiible last year, but either way, while it's extremely pleasant and likeable, I'm not sure it would be able to beat out more incendiary and provocative films.

Talking Tribeca: Jiro Dreams of Sushi

I’ve had the pleasure this year of screening a number of selections from the Tribeca Film Festival. In no particular order, I present a look at one film per day. The Tribeca Film Festival takes place April 20th through May 1st.

Jiro Dreams of Sushi
Directed by David Gelb
Festival Screenings

When food and culture intersect, there’s bound to be an interesting story behind it. The life of Jiro Ono, a master sushi chef who, at 85 years old, still goes to work every day and night, is a winning example of that. This fun, appetizing documentary explores Jiro’s past and follows him in his daily life as he continues to produce sushi on a regular basis that wins him prizes and legitimizes charging $300 for a dinner meal that requires reservations a month in advance. The film’s best asset is its subject, Jiro, who is positively charming and equally respectable. He struts around confidently and makes sure to praise the efforts and contributions of his underlings, all the while ensuring that their commitment to making incredible sushi is never compromised. Jiro’s back story is intriguing, and it’s quite enlightening to hear him talk about it. When his sons are interviewed about their career paths and how they’ll always be compared to him, it speaks to Japanese culture and the importance of lineage and ancestral respect. What’s most moving about “Jiro Dreams of Sushi” is the way one food critic gushes with appropriate admiration over Jiro’s technique, style, and food. As an expert, he clearly knows what he’s talking about, and it makes the film all the more meaningful to hear him so praised. The film has its best moments when it features its hero onscreen, as it manages to cover an extraordinary breadth of topics in just eighty minutes, and every time Jiro pops back up, the film instantly becomes more engaging anew. It earns extra points for making this non-fan of sushi salivate for some tuna.

See it or skip it? See it. It’s impossible not to like, even if you don’t like documentaries or sushi.