INDEPENDENT FILM FOR INDEPENDENT MINDS

The Jiro of the film's title is Jiro Ono, an 85-year-old sushi chef and a legend in his field. His Sukiyabashi Jiro restaurant seats only 10, but it's considered the best place for sushi in Japan, with a full meal costing upward of 300,000 yen ($300); the three stars it has been awarded by the Michelin Guide only sweetens its prestige. "No one ever has a bad experience there," says Masuhiro Yamamoto, a food critic who's prominently featured in the film. Jiro Dreams of Sushi details, among other things, the painstaking process that goes into creating these mouthwatering pieces of sushi-from picking the pieces of fish for the day to getting rice from his usual provider, and from formulating his menu for a given day to presiding over his band of chefs as they serve the sushi to his customers, many of whom have had to reserve their precious seats about a year in advance. The man is incredibly precise in his process. Not just any fish will do; in fact, at the fish market he frequents, he often participates in a tuna auction in order to procure the ones he wants. And in the kitchen, he makes sure to always have a taste of whatever sushi is made in order to make sure they all suit his palate.