BERLIN -- It’s torture to watch Jiro Dreams of Sushi — if you are on an empty stomach. David Gelb’s documentary on Jiro Ono, the 85-year-old sushi chef whose Tokyo restaurant received three Michelin stars is a paean to perfectionism and crafty bit of food porn. The trendiness and general accessibility of the topic means tasty offers from TV, theater and festivals will be handed on a plate to the sales agent. Never mind that the cinematography is so glossy the film sometimes looks like a fashion shoot. Or that it serves philosophy in bite-size without delving into the background or evolving culture of eating and preparing sushi in the wake of culinary globalization (you’ll learn more from a-dime-a-dozen Japanese manga on the subject). Shooting mostly in the 10-seater basement restaurant Sukiyayabashi Jiro (whose menu starts at around $300 minimum) in Ginza, the feature itself is largely squashed inside the chef’s small, meticulously routine world. Interviews with Jiro, his sons, his apprentices and food critics concur on his perfectionist attitude — not surprising if one is familiar with Japanese reverence for “shokunin” (artisan's) dedicated work ethic.

Still, the lengths Jiro takes to maintain and improve his standards — from never taking a day off except to go to funerals, to massaging an octopus for 50 minutes, to customizing plate layout for left-handed customers — have their amusement value. Conversations with his sons Yoshikazu and Takashi elicit sympathy for the pressure one would expect they’re under to sustain the restaurant’s reputation in the long term. The most touching anecdote comes from an apprentice’s account of how he wept when Jiro finally gave his approval to his egg dish after rejecting the previous 200 he made.jiro dreams of sushi cleveland The sushi pieces are shot professionally and edited snazzily to look like a mouthwatering slide show. sushi bamboo mat cleaningFilming quality of other locations or scenes such as Tsukiji fish market, streets of Tokyo or activity in the kitchen are merely functional. sushi tei jakarta promotion

One interviewee has likened Jiro to the conductor of an orchestra in the way he controls the work flow. Perhaps this explains the choice of pieces by Glass, Richter, J.S. Bach and Mozart for the score. It’s soothing and appropriate, but when it’s so thickly laid over nearly every non-dialogue passage, the effect is as overwhelming as dipping already-vinegared raw mackerel in soya sauce. Venue: Berlin Film Festival, Culinary Cinema Production: City Room Media, Weaver/Pellegrini, Preferred Content, in association with Sundial Pictures.ichiban sushi menu sugar land Featuring: Jiro Ono, Yoshikazu Ono, Takashi Ono, Masuhiro Yamamotowhere to buy sushi grade fish seattle Executive producers: Matthew Weaver, Joey Carey, Stefan Nowickisushi grade fish singapore

Producer: Kevin Iwashina, Tom Pellegrini No rating, 83 minutesSo, what is Daisuke Nakazawa doing in Seattle after 11 years under the tutelage of Shiro Kashiba's longtime friend and mentor? Nancy Leson tells all. DAISUKE NAKAZAWA’S grin widened when I ordered “omakase” at Shiro’s last June — giving the 34-year-old sushi chef, newly arrived from Tokyo, the go-ahead to show me what he’s got. What he didn’t have was command of the English language. venta de sushi en maipuSmiling and nodding, he presented me with Spanish mackerel (“sawara!”) and fresh Hood Canal shrimp (“amaebi!”), then, at meal’s end, handed-off a pair of tamago nigiri, crowing, “Jiro Dreams of Sushi!” “Yes,” I said, admiring the thick cut of his sweet omelet. “I saw that documentary,” an homage to Jiro Ono, the elderly owner of a 10-seat sushi bar in a Ginza district subway station — and the man some call the world’s greatest sushi chef.

“Jiro Dreams of Sushi!” Daisuke repeated, when it was clear I’d missed his point. I failed to recognize this smiling sushiman as the film’s solemn senior apprentice who famously recounted making tamago under the stern eye of Jiro Ono: months of failure, 200 rejections and, finally, approval. “I was so happy I cried,” the subtitle read. So, what is Daisuke doing in Seattle after 11 years under the tutelage of Shiro Kashiba’s longtime friend and mentor?Shiro doesn’t have any,” explains a translator speaking for the majority owner who bought Shiro’s in 2007. “We want Shiro to keep working,” as he does three nights a week, “but we need a next generation.” “I’m a lucky boy,” adds Daisuke, recruited to sustain the tradition of edomae sushi — the classics, hold the mango-tango roll — under Shiro’s Belltown banner. Since his arrival, he’s been an enthusiastic student of ESL, and learned to chide pickled-ginger-scarfing patrons with Shiro-esque wit, noting that palate refresher is meant “to change taste;

it is not a salad!” He’s appeared with Shiro at community events and shared Jiro’s secrets with his colleagues, showing them how to smoke king mackerel over hay. And he expresses his naturally ebullient character, says Shiro, when he jokes, “bluefin, the Wagyu beef of sushi!” Daisuke was 19 when he got his first job at a suburban sushi joint. He gave it up to work as a “salaryman” for an Internet company, leaving that job to take on two more: waking at 4:30 a.m. to schlep tuna carcasses at Tsukiji market, then working nights in a restaurant. He married on his 23rd birthday, about the time Jiro Ono placed a want ad for an apprentice. “Lucky boy” got the job at Sukiyabashi Jiro — which later earned three Michelin stars. For the first three months, he recalls, “It was all cleaning, all obeying, saying ‘Yes, yes,’ and never talking back.” By the fourth month he was allowed to handle fish. It was five years before he stood behind the sushi bar assisting Jiro and his son.