Tribeca Film Festival: Mouthwatering doc �Jiro Dreams of Sushi' delights audience

By Sarah Sluis

Most people will never pay $300 for a sushi dinner, but the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi gives an hour and a half look into a restaurant whose sushi meals cost that much and often take just fifteen to thirty minutes to consume.

The Tokyo restaurant is led by chef Jiro Ono, an 85-year-old whose right-hand man is his fifty-something son. His younger son, who will not inherit the business, has already branched out and opened another restaurant, but the older son is holding out until he can carry on his father's business�though fifty seems a little old to be still working under your father. The restaurant, which has just a dozen seats, is run meticulously, and the documentary follows the rhythmic life, day in and day out, of the sushi chefs.

Director David Gelb said in a Q&A afterwards that his shots of Jiro's sushi-making were inspired by "Planet Earth." The crisp, HD shots are sometimes slowed down slightly, and the camera will arc around a completed hand roll, allowing audiences to appreciate the simplicity and beauty of his creations.

After watching the documentary, $300 for dinner actually seems like a deal. The secret to good sushi is an incredible amount of painstaking labor. Want tender, not rubbery, octopus? Massage it for 45 minutes. Want the best fish? Develop relationships with vendors who each specialize exclusively in tuna or eels. Cut it the right way. Add just enough vinegar to the marinade. Don't prepare anything beforehand. Above all, taste, taste, taste.

Jiro's son tells an anecdote. He made tamagoyaki (egg sushi, pictured right) over two hundred times before his father liked it enough not to throw it out. Jiro has many apprentices, and they spend a decade making sushi before they're considered good enough to move on from an apprenticeship.

At the Tribeca screening, the audience was incredibly giving and delighted in hearing the lengths Jiro goes to achieve often humorous levels of perfection. They were also concerned about Jiro and his business in the wake of the earthquakes and nuclear disaster in Japan. The director assured us that his family is safe and sound, but noted that many reservations have been canceled due to the instability in the aftermath of the tragedy. Procuring fish, too, has become more difficult. Many coastal fisheries have been wiped out. There just isn't that much to buy at the fish market.

For a stomach-growling look at the sushi world, see the film at the Tribeca Film Festival or await its release through Magnolia, which has plans to release the doc later this year. Watch the trailer here.