Jiro Dreams of Sushi facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Jiro Dreams of Sushi
Promotional release poster
Directed by	David Gelb
Produced by	Kevin Iwashina Tom Pellegrini
Starring	Jiro Ono
Cinematography	David Gelb
Editing by	Brandon Driscoll-Luttringer
Distributed by	Magnolia Pictures
Release date(s)	June 11, 2011 (2011-06-11) (Provincetown IFF) March 9, 2012 (2012-03-09) (USA, limited)
Running time	81 minutes
Country	United States
Language	Japanese
Money made	$2,552,478 North America

Jiro Dreams of Sushi is a 2011 Japanese-language American documentary film directed by David Gelb. The film follows Jiro Ono (小野 二郎, Ono Jirō), an 85-year-old sushi master and owner of Sukiyabashi Jiro, previously a Michelin three-star restaurant. Sukiyabashi Jiro is a 10-seat, sushi-only restaurant located in a Tokyo subway station. As of 2014, Jiro Ono serves a tasting menu of roughly 20 courses, for a minimum of JP¥30,000 (US$270).

The film also profiles Jiro's two sons, both of whom are also sushi chefs. The younger son, Takashi (隆士), left Sukiyabashi Jiro to open a mirror image of his father's restaurant in Roppongi Hills. The 50-year-old elder son, Yoshikazu (禎一), obliged to succeed his father, still works for Jiro and is faced with the prospect of one day taking over the flagship restaurant.

Production and release

Initially, Gelb had planned to do what he had nicknamed "Planet Sushi", inspired by the cinematography of the BBC documentary Planet Earth:

Originally, I was going to make a film with a lot of different sushi chefs who all had different styles, but when I got to Jiro's restaurant, I was not only amazed by how good the sushi was and how much greater it was than any other sushi restaurant I had ever been to, but I also found Jiro to be such a compelling character and such an interesting person. I was also fascinated by the story of his son, who is fifty years old, but still works for his father at the restaurant. So, I thought, "Here's a story about a person living in his father's shadow while his father is in a relentless pursuit of perfection." It was the makings of a good feature film.

Food critic Masuhiro Yamamoto connected Gelb with Jiro. Principal photography took Gelb one month (January 2010), augmented by additional scenes shot later that year in August; editing took 10 months.

Jiro Dreams of Sushi debuted in the US in 2011 at the Provincetown International Film Festival and was an official selection of the Tribeca Film Festival in the same year. The documentary was made available on Netflix streaming on August 28, 2012.

As of 2013^[update], the film has grossed US$2,552,478 in North America. It is ranked 70th of all US Documentaries on Box Office Mojo.

Soundtrack

Gelb, a "huge Philip Glass fan", has commented on his use of Philip Glass compositions in the film's soundtrack:

In hindsight, I think it works because Philip Glass's music is kind of a metaphor for Jiro's work ethic, because it's repetitive but it also builds on itself and escalates, and it's the same with Jiro's work. Because every day he's going, he's doing the same routine, and trying to do everything exactly the same, but just reaching for that one step of improvement, and I feel like the music's doing the same thing, so they match perfectly.

The soundtrack includes the following:

See also

In Spanish: Jiro Dreams of Sushi para niños