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documentary film directed by David Gelb. The film follows the story of Jiro Ono, a
Japanese sushi master and his two sons, Yoshikazu and Takashi, both of whom are
Jiro Dreams of Sushi can fit in the sub-genre of expository documentary1. While
many of the images presented are poetic and aesthetically beautiful, the fragments
of different episodes and acts are cohesively linked through a more rhetorical frame.
The film does not attempt to persuade, but by showing the diligence and
craftsmanship of the chefs, audiences are presented with a strong perspective that
narration, some interviews with Mizutani, Yamamoto are used to advance the
arguments, precisely because they are more acquainted with Jiro and sushi industry,
making them the perfect candidates to inject greater credibility into the arguments,
as discussed later. The arguments are carried by the voices, and through repetitive
(craftsman), are reinforced. Footages are edited largely to maintain the continuity of
discussion and perspectives, divided into three narrative acts, rather than following a
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strict linear chronology. All these features contribute to the expository nature of the
film.
Before making this film, David Gelb had some experiences working as a
filmmaker. He co-wrote, co-directed, and starred in a short film Lethargy (2002)2. Jiro
Dreams of Sushi is Gelbs first full-length feature documentary film3. Originally, David
Gelb intended to make a food equivalent to BBCs Planet Earth, documenting sushi
industry and different sushi restaurants around the world. Over the course of
scouting, Japanese food writer Yamamoto brought him to Sukiyabashi Jiro. An old
acquaintance of Jiro Ono, Yamamoto was the spirit guide for Gelb, knowing that he
will eventually be intrigued by Jiro. Indeed, ultimately Gelb realized that Jiro, the
Japanese national treasure, was such a living legend that all Gelbs idea about sushi
would be best conveyed through Jiros story. Gelb is the director of Reawakening
responsible for such thriller films as Insidious, Dark Skies and Paranormal Activity,
Rather than narrowing the film down to target only food- or even sushi- lovers,
the filmmaker has a much broader base of audiences in mind. In theory, the film
It was featured in New York International Independent Film & Video Festival, a movie festival aimed for
2!
In 2008, he made a 52 minutes documentary, A Vision of Blindness (2008), featuring the making process of
3!
Fernando Meirelles major motion picture Blindness. However, there is little video information readily available
online about his previous body of works.
4!Lee, A. K. (2011, Sep 16). Interview with david gelb, director of this years closing night film jiro dreams of sushi. Retrieved
from http://sdaff.gala-engine.com/2011/2011/09/16/interview-with-david-gelb-director-of-this-years-closing-
night-film-jiro-dreams-of-sushi/
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especially those sushi aficionados, since the film devotes a large proportion to the
craft of sushi making. However, with widely positive critical reviews, the film is vastly
popular even among audiences who lack the initial interest in food, or Japan in
general. This is because the narrative illustrates the fascinating characters of Jiro
Ono and his sons, who followed his paths in becoming shokunin of sushi making.
The story explores the Japanese culture, the father-son relationship, the aspiring
sons overshadowed by their successful father, the work ethics and constant pursuit
for perfection and mastery of making sushi. As critic Steven Rea noted, Jiro Dreams
of Sushi isn't just a film for foodies, or Japanophiles. It's a meditation on work, on
finding one's path in life, and then walking it with singular purpose.5 These themes
appeal to a broader audience, because they share some degree of relevance to the
evolved over the centuries, and has elevated to an art form. The technique of
contemporary sushi making dated back to 18th century, when nigiri sushi was
invented by Hanaya Yohei towards the end of Japanese Edo period. At that time, the
dish was meant as a fast food for its convenience in preparation and eating.
Nowadays, sushi can be found in both convenience chains and fine restaurants,
The film itself does provide a window of opportunity to better appreciate Jiros
work. By presenting Jiros restaurant and that many thoughts and preparatory
actions have to be made, the film draws a distinction between the pinnacle of sushi
making and the usual sushi-making audiences were used to. Yet, while Michelin
Rea, S. (2012, March 23). A tasty meditation on a master chef's life. Retrieved from http://www.philly.com/philly/
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entertainment/movies/20120323_A_tasty_meditation_on_a_master_chef_s_life.html
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Three Star rating suggests that it is worthwhile to visit the country just for this
restaurant alone, not everyone has the means or the luxury of time to pay pilgrimage
to Sukiyabashi Jiro. With the film, however, we can at least know the amazing works
behind Jiro and his team. Also, as a documentary, the film captures the fleeting
moments that may be impossible to see for future generations. Born in 1925, Jiro
Ono is well 88 years old in 2013. When the inevitable happens, people who have
missed the chance to meet Jiro in person can then refer back to the film, as a
reminder of the legacy and the spirit of shokunin that Jiro left behind.
The film gives us a glimpse of the disappearing fish due to overfishing. The
pursuit to finding high quality ingredients is an uphill battle for many sushi
restaurants, and especially for Sukiyabashi Jiro. The idea that business should
balance profit, while preserving nature is mentioned in the film, but not expanded to
its full potential. A sense of shared concern and responsibility is brought forth and
this may be a potential call for attention. However, there is no easy resolution to the
issue. The filmmaker is ultimately concerned with the state of art itself, rather than
and work ethics. Viewers are constantly reminded of Jiros philosophy, that labor is
massage the octopus for 45 minutes before it reaches the maximum of texture. With
a meager income, apprentices have to work many hours and repeat the same
actions for years before moving to the next stage, but the reward lies in the craft
itself. The film discusses the changing socio-cultural perception, as young people are
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more inclined towards making quick money. Coming from American background,
impossible to see Americans working for many years before finally emerging as a
master. The clash of Oriental and Western cultures is finely imbued in the film.
more people have visited Sukiyabashi Jiro, many do not appreciate the fact that
many hours of preparation have been spent for the sushi that they finish in fifteen
minutes. It may appear easy, but the whole process takes many years of practice,
and fine-tuned collaboration between chefs and suppliers, who have also dedicated
their life to a specialized type of field. Instead of selling all types of fish, each vendor
is specialized in only one fish. They are the best masters, simply because they are
that its not about the money. Instead, their satisfaction comes from the assurance
that their craft can be given to the customers in the best possible state, under the
observing the Japanese culture. Overall, the film succeeds in introducing some
Gelb puts it, It was no longer a movie about sushi; it became a movie about family,
parenting comes from his own childhood. The film briefly discusses Jiros father, who
left him during the Great Depression, and Jiro had no one but to rely on himself from
age of seven. He could have repeated his fathers mistake, or created a family that
Harris, B. (2012, Mar 7). David gelb, jiro dreams of sushi. Retrieved from http://filmmakermagazine.com/42255-
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david-gelb-jiro-dreams-of-sushi/
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he never had. Consequently, Jiro trained his children to be independent. Takashi, the
younger son, mentioned that he opened his own restaurant and quoted his father,
now you have no home to come back to. He said that I would be buried in
Roppongi. Failure was not an option. Yoshikazu was destined to inherit his fathers
mantle, because Japan is a traditional dynastic society, and the eldest son usually
takes over family business. While Yoshikazu dreamed of becoming a car racer, he
still went on to be the best of his trade. As mentioned in the commentary, Gelb calls
Yoshikazu the reluctant hero and a natural protagonist, precisely because of the
tension between his dream and reality. Despite that Jiro did not spend much time
with his sons, the connection between family members and dynamics at or after work
is simply touching.
explored, which may be relatable to some audiences. Yoshikazu and Takashi are
can be recognized as the new owner of Sukiyabashi Jiro. The film dedicates the
second act to Yoshikazus attempt at achieving his best. It isnt until the end of the
film that Gelb reveals that when Michelin inspectors came in, it was Yoshikazu,
rather than Jiro, who prepared the dishes. The revelation is an enchanting plot-twist,
accumulating from all the previous buildup and suggests that Yoshikazu has indeed
inherited the tradition and is up to the challenge of living up to his fathers legacy.
standard of Jiro, but she is never featured. All the chefs and apprentices in the
restaurant are males. As Silvia Killingsworth from New Yorker noted, Gelb
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commented that its sexism, frankly.7 We know that Jiro has two sons, and that
suggests he has a wife. She should be a source of balance and backup for Jiro, so
that he is able to fully dedicate himself to work while the mother takes care of family
and children. Instead, all that is presented is a photo of her. The absence of women
in general can be partly attributed to the shy nature of Japanese. While this claim is
stereotypical, many Japanese women do prefer to stay behind the scene because
they are more introvert and conservative. To the foreign viewers, this may be of
interest.
IV. Narrative
through the powerful tool of editing. As he said in an interview, I shot 150 hours of
footage. We made an 83-minute movie. Choosing what to include in the film was the
hardest part. To filmmakers end, rather than bluntly providing food information, such
footages are meant to provide context for the characters. In order to capture a larger
audience, he chooses to focus on a single family and presents a more intimate story,
thus highlighting the importance of editing in shifting films appeal to its target
some scenes does not directly contribute to the main narrative, and they are deleted,
while only the most important elements of sushi making in the film are retained.
Similarly removed are the interviews with master suppliers. Rather than including all
four sequences, their expertise and commentary are weaved through editing into a
captivating resonance to the philosophy of Jiro and Yoshikazu, who believe that one
should try his best to improve without fear. Also, rather than using fast cuts, the
2012/03/jiro-dreams-of-sushi.html
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filmmaker relies on simple and direct cuts. The emphasis on simplicity is an
emulation of the pure and simple sushi that Jiro makes. Both the story and the sushi
The film does not follow a chronological order. The shooting took place in two
phases, one in winter and another in spring. The footages from winter time are
interweaved with those from summer, suggesting that rhetoric arguments and flow of
narrative triumphed the need for a linear chronology. Instead, the film is structured
thematically with three distinct acts, akin to a classic story. The first act sets up the
success of Jiros practice and beauty of the art, backed by by food reviewers and
peers. Then, Mizutani challenged, will Yoshikazu ever be better than his father?
The challenge posed by Yoshikazu is the main theme for the second act, as
audiences witness Yoshikazu visiting the fish market, and learn about his aspirations.
The third act entails the filmmaker following Jiro and Yoshikazu back to Jiros
Some of the interviews also help in the the buildup for the narrative. Mizutani is
a former apprentice of Jiro and Yamamoto is a food aficionado and writer. Both of
them provided detailed insights and honest perspectives about Jiro and his work
ethics. As mentioned in the filmmaker commentary, they are like narrators for the
film. Gelb utilizes their comments to bring out various characteristics of Jiro and his
sons, allowing audiences to be more familiar with the characters while giving Gelb
more creative freedom to control the flow of the story through careful editing. Also,
sometimes Yamamoto is the one asking Jiro questions. Because Jiro is much more
familiar with his friend, the interviews would be more intimate and comfortable,
compared to the case if Gelb or translator asks the question. The greater sense of
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Yamamoto and Mizutani are recognized in the field, and their voices are less
polished than a professional narrator, thus their expertise would lend a hand to
credibility of film.
apprentices are making sushi, they would appear as stern and concentrated, but
they hardly appear smiling. However, early in the third act, as the camera follows
them visiting the Buddhist Temple, their humor is portrayed. Structurally, the
humorous interactions build up their characters as lively people, rather than distant
sushi chefs. The narrative is made more cohesive, when characters themselves are
from Tchaikovsky8, Beethoven, Bach and most notably, Philip Glass. Because Jiro is
a master of craft, Gelb maintains that only classical music is the appropriate device
to elevate his filmmaking craft to match the mastery of Jiro. As Gelb personally
mentioned, this would make it feels like the film is from his (Jiros) perspective.
The music of Philip Glass is a particular fit. His style is dubbed minimalism,
structures. This is highly metaphorical and cohesive to what Jiro believes in.
Yamamoto summarizes in his narration, that Jiro's sushi course is like a concerto.
The meal is divided into three movements. Class items, like tuna are presented in
the first movement. The second movement is like an improvisation. It's like a
cadenza. In the third movement, sea eel, kanpyo and egg comprise a traditional
finale. While Gelb already wanted to use classical music, it was not until this
With the starting title, Gelb featured Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D, Opus #5, with his great uncle
8!
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precious moment that he saw the sensible linkage between classical music and the
film. Specifically, both Jiro and Glass are the masters of their craft, and they insist on
repeating doing exactly the same thing and looking for tiny bits of improvement in
order to advance to a higher stage, while at the same time maintaining a threshold
symphony and Jiro is the conductor, while chefs and apprentices handle their
instruments as practiced. Their emphasis for consistency and repetition echoes one
another, making the music rhyme with the tempo and movement of the film, fitting for
Jiros philosophy.
The camera work is refined and stylized. Because of its lavish cinematography
and exquisite details of sushi presented, some reviews have described the film as a
depth of field and selective focusing throughout most interview and sushi-making
scenes to give a singular focal point for audiences attention. The extreme close-ups
of Jiros face are intended to emphasize the details of his facial expression and
language, echoing his own attention to detail. However, there is also an exception.
When walking through the fish market, the shot is ultra wide-angle with barrel
distortion but great details across the image. This is distinct from the shallow depth
of field shots like the interviews that follows straight after. It provides a wider
perspective of what is happening around the scene in a first person perspective. This
emulates the experience of going with master to the market, as apprentices learnt
The use of slow motion in the sequences featuring chefs and apprentices as
they prepared such ingredients as eel and octopus, is intricately poetic, as the
Ichikawa, F., & Tamura, H. (2012, October). Maru: An ethnographic approach to revive local communities. In
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Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference Proceedings (Vol. 2012, No. 1, pp. 186-199). Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
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filmmaker attempts to augment and emphasize the importance of what happened
behind the curtain, which is usually neglected by many customers. The presentation
is simple, but through repetition in displaying various types of sushi, audiences are
left mesmerized by the varied recipes and dedication that Jiro and his fellow
apprentices adopted. Also, the steadicam shots in the auction site are poetically
striking, fully demonstrating the dynamics of fishermen and vendors. Combined with
rhythmic music and almost dancing movements of salesmen, it was definitely one of
Gelb has a natural design and mise en scne for most interviews. When the
camera rolls in the restaurant, lighting is mostly warm and soft. There is little
intentional artificial lighting added, apart from the indoor lighting from the restaurant
itself. Instead, a large aperture is used to absorb as much available light as possible,
apart from simply providing a shallow foreground. With a relatively large sensor
provided by the advanced digital camera, the shot is accomplished without much
technical artifacts. The chefs and apprentices are comfortably dressed in their
aprons, and filmmaker does not interfere with their choices of hairstyle or costumes.
All of these provides hints to the personality of each individual and the context that
they are in. However, even just within a confined space, David Gelb tries his best to
be present at different locations to capture various angles. This not only allows the
editor to have more raw materials to work on, but also ensures that audiences are
style. Instead, he puts in extra efforts to frame multiple compositions even for a
single scenario, so that audiences would get a better sense of surrounding while
being kept entertained. Because of this, the camerawork is shaky at times, but not to
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There are some footages featuring the style of interrotron interviews. At the
beginning of the film, Jiro asserts that Once you decide your work, you must
immerse yourself in your work. You have to fall in love with your work. By speaking
with viewers. Towards the end, Jiro looks directly into camera again, saying that "I
want both of my sons to continue on. They both will run their own restaurants. The
interrotron style further adds a sense of familiarity between viewers and Jiro, as if we
have known him for a long time even before watching the film. By reverberating with
the particular stylistic tool, audiences are invited to reflect back what the filmmaker
has some cinematic merits. For instance, Gelb displays a series of sushi on the
plate, and then allows each of them to fade away. Post production is consciously
utilized to hint the vanishing number of such fishes. A stock footage from decades
ago is also employed to suggest the abundance and high standard of fresh fish back
then, in contrast to the declining situation now. This sequence is placed right after
the climax of sushi concerto. To place it earlier in the film would not fit in the
beauty of sushi, and then realize that such treasures may soon be lost due to our
The filmmaker also adopts the techniques of many prior established works. One
instance is the reminiscence of Planet Earth photographic style, from which Gelb
was highly inspired. In Planet Earth, camera would move forward during aerial shots,
changing the spatial relationship between the earth and the viewers and allowing
viewers to see what was hidden behind the mountains and the sand dunes. For the
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close-up shots of sushi dishes, Gelb steadily moves the camera towards the counter,
revealing Yoshikazu finishing a sushi, which is then placed on a plate, reflecting its
mirror image on the polished surface. Another case of adopting skill is observed
earlier in the film. In the first act, as Gelb discusses the surging popularity of sushi,
people moves, only architecture and background stay still. This is strikingly similar
visually to what was done in The Fog of War (2003) by Errol Morris. More
specifically, after about 41 minutes into the film, Errol Morris interlaces slow-motion
Coincidentally, both films are set in the context of Japan. While the graphical
Gelbs shot was more head-on and horizontal), the underlying idea is similar. It is
There are also some moments of spontaneous camerawork. At the start, one
customer walks in to ask about the reservation and the dining experience. As
Yoshikazu explains, the focus transits to his back. Then, as the inquiry quickly
unfolds, Gelb alters the composition again to include the customer from Shizuoka,
who is now only faintly visible in the background bokeh. As he leaves the restaurant,
the focus moves to Jiro, who is concentrated on other tasks at hand, before cutting
to another following sequence. The whole sequence is made in one single take. Gelb
mentioned that some people have even questioned if this scene was staged. In fact,
it is precisely because of his quick reaction and ability to improvise on the spot, plus
a hint of luck, that resulted in such a successful spontaneous shot. Another case is
when Jiro laughs at the fact that people still think Jiro makes all the preparation.
The camera is fixated tightly on Jiros face with shallow focus, and then as
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conversation unfolds, the focus moves to Yoshikazu, and then quickly back to Jiro.
The quick focusing is impressive. What is more impressive is that as the composition
changes, we then realize that Yoshikazu is listening in the background all the time. It
mainly in 4K format, and master copy was rendered in 2K1011. This allows a high
definition of details that can be projected and observed. In Jiros constant pursuit of
perfection, he notes that there is always room for improvement, and that usually
comes from the most minute details. The high level of definition is crucial, because
more attention can be given to such details, allowing us to experience that elevated
state of art. For instance, in one of the close-ups, viewers would observe the gradual
settling motion of hamaguri as it is placed on the plate. This is only observable had
filmmaker paid enough attention to every detail, and only possible had chefs
the analogy between making refined versus convenient sushi and digital versus
analog, and links their self-disciplined practice to the analog world. Ironically and
interestingly, the whole film is shot using Canon EOS 7D and Red One Camera, both
of which are digital cameras. The film industry has advanced and adopted digital
capture to provide instant reviews and easier processing. With Jiros counter-intuitive
approach of only using the highest quality ingredients and most appropriate
techniques for cooking, he has brought the craft to a new level of cost inefficiency.
The use of digital camera, however, is intended to lower the overall cost of
10
! IMDb. (n.d.). Jiro dreams of sushi (2011) technical specifications. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/
tt1772925/technical?ref_=tt_dt_spec
! According to Sony, in computer-speak, K means two to the tenth power or 1,024. In digital film scanning, the
11
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production while sacrificing the touch and precision of analog photography, the
predominant tool for early documentary filmmaking. The fact that the capturing tool is
digital and rapid, while the subject being captured still adhered to traditions and slow
VI. Conclusion
Throughout the textual analysis, different areas such as target audience, sub-
genre, historical and social factors, editing, narrative structure, cinematography and
music are explored for Jiro Dreams of Sushi, with reference to some specific scenes.
These elements are crucial to the formulation and success of the film, and hence a
VII.References
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