East Side Sushi

Juanna Martinez and her widowed dad struggle to keep a living and raise her daughter by working a series of odd-end jobs like working in a supermarket, a gym, and selling fruit in a cart. After a particularly deadly incident while selling fruit in the streets, Juanna decides to look for a more stable and safe job. She spots a 'help wanted' advertisement in the shop front of a Japanese restaurant, Osaka, and decides to apply. Despite not having any previous experience in Japanese restaurants, she is hired because of her long history of working in Italian and Mexican eateries in the past. Once in, she diligently works her way in the kitchen. With medical benefits and the leftovers that she can take home, Juanna seems to have finally found some stability in her life. Once she finds the stability, she starts to become creative with her job. She experiments on the Japanese dishes at home, and within a year, can be seen to have progressed enough to impress her reluctant dad and enthusiastic daughter, with her sushi. But, progress at work seems difficult, with a boss who seems determined to hold on to traditional ways of Japanese cooking. I would leave the rest for the audience to enjoy, because, even if we have seen empowering storylines like this before, and can predict the story beats, watching it unfold is still a pleasure. Independent movies like this are a delight to watch for mw, because it feels like I'm watching real people struggling with real issues that I can find a few streets down my house. The acting is very natural, with the exception of a few stilted scenes, the emotion is real, poignant and earned. The cinematography reflects Juanna's mind, starting with muted colours during the hardship phase and increasingly becoming colourful as she finds joy and passion in her job. There is plenty of commentary about how society and economy is set up in a way to keep the working class working all their lives without ever being able to securely retire. There is also the narrative of personal development, of how someone can pull them up by their bootstraps, but the movie does very well to put it alongside the structural issues of poverty and economy rather than a reductive, fancy, neoliberal tale of emancipation.

RATINGS

Direction 6.5 Story 6.5 Acting 7 Cinematography Very Indie Overall 6.5

VERDICT: A wonderful one-time watch that combines food, multiculturalism and empowerment.

I noticed some time ago that some of my very favorite films are about food--perhaps it's because I love to cook. Off the top of my head, I can quickly think of some real classic foodie movies, such as "Babette's Feast", "Mostly Martha", "The Big Night" and "The Hundred-Foot Journey". I might want to a new film to this list-- "East Side Sushi". Unfortunately, this film is not yet scheduled for a nation-wide release, but there are going to be some limited engagements in California theaters starting September 18th--most likely because the audiences there have a large concentration of Hispanic-Americans (and the leading character is a Mexican- American). I sure hope it comes to other markets, as this film by Anthony Lucero is a little gem.

Juana (Diana Elizabeth Torres) is a brilliant cook. But she and her father are struggling to raise her daughter. Their pay is meager and her job selling fruit on the streets has become rather dangerous. On a lark, she decides to go to work at a local Japanese restaurant instead of doing her usual Mexican-style cooking. Here at the restaurant, she does a lot of the prep-work--and the sushi chefs do the actual sushi work. But she is fascinated by their work and soon realizes that sushi is delicious...and so, with only a little bit of help to get her started, she teaches herself how to make sushi. After a year of practice on her family, Juana is quite accomplished and is ready to make the leap in the restaurant from prep work to sushi...but there is a problem. Mexican-Americans do NOT work in sushi bars and everyone KNOWS that only Japanese men can excel in this art..right?! Well, Juana is determined...and conventional wisdom may not be right after all.

So why did I like this film so much? Well, the biggest reason is that the film is about people. Because of the wonderful performances and nice direction, you can believe that Juana is a real person--not just a plot device. You feel for her, you see her struggle, you like her and want her to succeed. I like movies about people and their everyday lives--and this one really works for me. I also appreciate that many times I expected things to happen one way in the movie but the writer (also Lucero) chose to avoid these clichés and formula--so it kept me guessing. Overall, this is a lovely little film--one that left me a bit hungry for more.

Love the uniqueness of the story... I mean how many non-male, non-Japanese sushi chefs do you see? I loved that the lead is a very strong female (Hispanic!) character (all too rare these days).

Wonderful acting, writing, editing, directing.

Beautiful sushi and watching it being made was fascinating.

This film brought tears to my eyes many times and I left the theater wanting a sushi dinner! Definitely the best movie I've seen all year... actually I've seen it twice and can't wait to see it again! Brought friends the second time I saw it who all felt the same :)

I can't wait to see this movie again.

I'd like to to give this a better review, but I have to hold back. The story and message are important, but to me, the execution was lacking.

I understand that this film had an extremely low budget, so they did a good job at producing something of merit with their limited resources. But I can't help but feel that this underdog story has been told many times before.

Yes, iterations of these stories are important, and they can shine a light on important social issues.

Especially in the Trump era, this sort of intercultural celebration hits home and is encouraging to see. I also really liked the celebration of learning in this film as well: learning languages, cultures, cuisine, and the interpolations of a hybrid Mexican-Japanese-American dynamic.

But for me, the acting, music, and writing veered more towards ideas that have already been explored, and less towards unique perspectives on the important social aspects that should always be showcased.

Just my 2 cents.

I approached screen time with cynicism. "What can this movie show me that I don't already know?" The answers came quickly and sustained me with sublime surprises.

Flawless acting that is displayed with an authentic, non-acting-documentary-predisposed delivery. It's a gem that permeated into every character. I could not pinpoint a weak performance...

Framed in a thematically predictable outcome, the film delicately balances the contrite notions of gender, culture and ambition with refreshing human authenticity that ultimately defines its redeeming value.