Directed by David Gelb - Available on DVD and Blu-ray™ "AS A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT WORLD-CLASS SUSHI, THIS FILM IS DEFINITIVE... I FOUND MYSELF DRAWN INTO THE MYSTERY OF THIS MAN."A WORK OF ART" JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI is a thoughtful and elegant meditation on work, family, and the art of perfection, chronicling Jiro’s life as both an unparalleled success in the culinary world and as a loving yet complicated father. Producers:David GelbTom PellegriniKevin Iwashina Like Us For Exclusive Screenings, Contests and Content"I'm not an expert at making sushi," says David Gelb, with a pair of chopsticks poised above a plate of tuna sashimi at Sugarfish by Sushi Nozawa downtown, "but I'm an expert at eating sushi." After filming 150 hours of footage at Sukiyabashi Jiro, the famed Michelin three-star sushi bar in Tokyo's Ginza district, the 28-year-old director of the documentary "Jiro Dreams of Sushi" knows a thing or two about nigiri and maki. "I like that the seaweed here is crispy," he says of a toro hand roll, into which he deftly pours a drop or two of soy sauce.

Gelb's film is set to premiere in Los Angeles on Friday, and he has just returned from its debut in New York. The movie, which showed at last year's Tribeca Film Festival and was bought by Magnolia Pictures, has captured the attention of more than just food lovers, as Gelb has been talking up sushi-porn scenes and the importance of rice preparation on the media circuit. sushi conveyor belt tnNaturally, the fooderati are drooling.jiro dreams of sushi brush "I think I was lucky," says Gelb, dressed in a black T-shirt and bright blue Adidas sneakers. jiro dreams of sushi slate"Part of it is that there hasn't been a film about this level of sushi." jiro dreams of sushi stream ipad

Although reviews have been mixed, he says the goal was to film something "restrained and elegant" instead of relying on the "reality show kind of camera" usually aimed at food and cooking subjects. "I wanted to show sushi as an art form." The artist behind the sushi is Jiro Ono, the much-revered octogenarian proprietor of Sukiyabashi Jiro, a tiny restaurant that seats 10 next to a subway exit in the basement of a Tokyo office building. sushi grade fish mesa az"He's a perfectionist in everything that he does, even the way he walks," says Gelb. yo sushi dubai voucher"Look at his posture." An example of Ono's quest for perfection is detailed in the movie through an apprentice's attempts to prepare Ono's tamago, which Gelb says includes a mix of shrimp puree, grated mountain yam, sake and egg, turned into a custard-like cake.

The apprentice had to make it more than 200 times -- yes, 200 -- before it met Ono's approval. Tamago "is so misunderstood," Gelb says. "Americans don't appreciate the egg." But it's the glistening fish that is the showstopper (shot mainly on a Red One digital camera), particularly during an omakase dinner scene of sushi close-ups set to Mozart. Each luscious slice of fish is shot so that the audience can see it settle on a pillow of rice. In front of a row of rapt diners, a baroque piece of hamaguri clam softly droops as a rivulet of sauce follows the curve of one edge. "I didn't get do-overs with the sushi," Gelb says. "With that shallow, delicate focus the margin of error is greater than if I'd used the 'reality show camera.' I knew it was going to be a cornerstone of the film." Meanwhile, the film's tension centers around the somewhat discomfiting relationship between Ono and his oldest son and heir apparent, Yoshikazu Ono, who's in the position of waiting for Jiro to retire, only to try to fill some very big geta.

And the Onos' reaction to the film? "Yoshikazu came to the Berlinale" last year for a screening, and "said it was OK. That's the highest approval I would expect." "Jiro Dreams of Sushi" opens Friday at the Nuart Theatre, 11272 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles. In Japanese, with English subtitles. Check out UCLA's "Science and Food" public lecture series It's Taco Tuesday, at My Taco this week Dario Cecchini plans visit to Valentino "Jiro Dreams of Sushi"/Magnolia PicturesJiro Dreams of Sushi shared I Am Not Your Negro's video.Debut teaser for I Am Not Your Negro - Raoul Peck’s vision of James Baldwin's unfinished radical narration about race in America, using the writer’s original words. "One of the best movies you are likely to see this year." - Manohla Dargis, The New York TimesPosted by shareWatch MoreI Am Not Your NegroDebut teaser for I Am Not Your Negro - Raoul Peck’s vision of James Baldwin's unfinished radical narration about race in America, using the writer’s original words.

"One of the best movies you are likely to see this year." - Manohla Dargis, The New York TimesThis week Documentary Now! tells the tasty tale of a humble Colombian restaurant renowned for its chicken and rice dish and the father/son dynamics that ensue. Before you watch “Juan Likes Rice & Chicken,” grab some chopsticks and wasabi and bone up on the acclaimed 2011 documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi, the inspiration behind the latest masterpiece from Documentary Now!. Meet Jiro, Subway Sushi Master Jiro Dreams of Sushi follows 85-year-old Jiro Ono, an acclaimed master sushi chef who has devoted every waking moment to perfecting his culinary skills. Universally regarded as the greatest sushi chef in the world, Jiro earned the rare and coveted Three-Star Michelin Rating for his restaurant Sukiyabashi Jiro — not too shabby for a 10-seat sushi joint in a Tokyo subway station. Director David Gelb originally planned to make a film focusing on multiple sushi chefs, but Jiro’s attention to detail (he travels great distances to select the perfect fish) made him a compelling subject.

Throughout the documentary, Jiro is shown to be very exacting in his cooking methods. Before they can touch the sushi, Jiro’s apprentices must learn how to properly hand squeeze the hot towels given to customers before their meals. You don’t see that kind of training at Applebee’s. Like Father, Like Son Jiro Dreams of Sushi explores the sushi apprenticeship of Jiro’s two sons, Yoshikazu and Takashi, and the pressure they’ve experienced having been born under the shadow of a man who is basically the Anthony Bourdain of sashimi. Elder brother Yoshikazu works alongside his father in the restaurant with the hopes that he will someday inherit Jiro’s business. Takashi, on the other hand, decides to cut Jiro’s apron strings and opens a sushi restaurant of his own. Needless to say, Jiro isn’t impressed. Jiro’s cuisine earns raves from food critics like Yamamoto, a Japanese guidebook writer who appears throughout the documentary. Yamamoto professes to being nervous every time he tries Jiro’s sushi (the chef’s constant stern expression might have something to do with it), and claims that master chefs around the world praise Jiro for the simplicity of his cuisine.