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Created Aug 11, 2012 01:50PM PST • Edited Aug 13, 2012 12:53AM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   OK 2.5

   The legendary chef behind a Michelin Three Star sushi restaurant gets profiled in Jiro Dreams of Sushi. Indeed, Jiro Ono does dream of sushi, and has for most of his 85 years.

   Unfortunately his BioDoc is too subtle for its own good, even given its zen subject. It also focuses as much on Jiro and his two sons as on the sushi. Succession dramas can be interesting, just not so much here.

   That said, sushi lovers – like me – will find Jiro Dreams of Sushi a zenfully enlightening 90 minutes.

4. Acting

   Good 3.0

   Jiro Ono is a wizened presence, alternately forbidding and joyful. Standing behind his sushi bar, handing individual pieces of nigiri to each diner and then watching them eat it, he’s like a mellow Tokyo version of Seinfeld’s Soup Nazi.

   His sons are less compelling, even with the pressure of following in their Father’s formidable footsteps.

   Jiro Dreams of Sushi also introduces us to a Japanese food writer who lionizes Jiro and to his fish and rice dealers.

5. Male Stars Good 3.0

6. Female Stars Good 3.0

7. Female Costars Good 3.0

8. Male Costars Good 3.0

10. Film

    OK 2.5

    The film spends most of its time in Jiro’s restaurant, Sukiyabashi Jiro. Tantalizing trips to the fish market are too brief. Longer exposure to the massive tunas and other uncut fruits of the sea would have benefited the proceedings.

11. Direction OK 2.5

12. Play OK 2.5

13. Music Good 3.0

14. Visuals Very Good 3.5
15. Content

16. Edge

    Tame 1.0

17. Sex Innocent 1.0

18. Violence Gentle 1.0

19. Rudeness Polite 1.0

21. Reality

    Natural 1.0

    Jiro has achieved his renown from a small restaurant in a Tokyo train station, where he charges $500 for a twenty piece tasting menu. From this low profile location he’s redefined standards of taste for French chef-of-the-century Joël Robuchon and other culinary icons.

    As a nigiri fan myself, I’m pleased to see that he apparently eschews trendy rolls and other complications.

22. Circumstantial Natural 1.0

23. Biological Natural 1.0

24. Physical Natural 1.0