Movie Review: 'Jiro Dreams of Sushi'

Jiro Dreams of Sushi isn't about sushi. It isn't even about Jiro. It's about doing one thing and dedicating your life to doing it well. It's about the discipline that makes of life sublime art. It's about living with a keen and humble awareness that life is huge, broader and deeper than any single lifetime.

Jiro Ono is considered by many to be the world's greatest sushi chef. He is the proprietor of Sukiyabashi Jiro, a 10-seat, sushi-only restaurant in a Tokyo subway station.

Jiro tastes every piece of fish, oversees every aspect of the running of his restaurant, and trains his staff to prepare each sushi creation, carefully balancing rice and fish and presenting it for the elegant work of art it is.

Jiro's standards of creation are so high that his customers, who come from around the world and pay top prices for his sushi, feel intimidated by his presence. This is a feeling shared by his apprentices as well as his sons. There is a subtle loneliness about the film as Jiro, who strives to create the best for others, stands alone while his customers eat, and as his elder son Yoshikazu strives to win his father's approval. Jiro admits he has been harder on his sons than on his other apprentices because they are his and his hope is that his sons will succeed in the world.

Father suffers and sons suffer that the sons might do well, that they will have a gift worth giving. It's a beautiful gift albeit a stern one. But the people come, and the sons do well. And they eat.