Planet Jiro and Planet sushi

2011年，由美国导演大卫盖尔布（David Gelb）制作的纪录片《寿司之梦》（Jiro Dreams of Sushi）将日本一位85岁寿司大师对寿司艺术的不断追求与完美联系在一起。他的名字叫小野次郎，米其林一家三星级餐厅的老板。这部记录片还介绍了他的两个儿子，小儿子高石和大儿子吉川庆。他们俩都是寿司厨师。这部纪录片不仅对二郎有着重要的意义，而且对人们对日本的印象也有着深远的影响。它让全世界看这部电影的人对日本和日本人民有了一些了解。同时，它也是日本文化对外的一种介绍，同时，它也吸引了人们对二郎及其店铺的持续关注。

    Produced in 2011 by American director, David Gelb, the documentary film Jiro Dreams of Sushi relates the continuing quest of an 85–year-old sushi master in Japan to the perfection of sushi art. His name is Jiro Ono, the proprietor of a Michelin three-star restaurant—Sukiyabashi Jiro. This documentary film also profiles his two sons, Takashi, the younger son and Yoshikazu, the older one. Both of them are also sushi chefs. This documentary film is not only of significance to Jiro, but also has profound effect upon people’s impression about his country—Japan. It gives people watching this film throughout the world some insights into Japan and its people. Also, it serve as an introduction of Japanese culture to the outside world, while it, at the same, draws splendid and continuous attention to Jiro and his store.

    When watching this film, I feel quite touched. And the message the director tries to send can be interpreted from many angles. First, Jiro—the 85-year-old sushi master, as an individual, gives us audience a lecture about the secret to success—persistence. He is a quite proper example to show people across the world that if you begin to do something, then do it well with your whole heart, passion and time. Then comes the success. It takes long to have some achievements, even the whole life sometimes, which forms a sharp contrast to the popular idea held by the youngsters nowadays of quick success without much effort. Secondly, sushi, as part of Japanese culture, is a window for the audience to gain an insight into the Japanese culture. Ethos, logos and pathos can be found in this documentary film, which is directed at anyone interested in sushi, Japan or even the director David Gelb. To convey the idea to the audience, a lot of film language is used in this film, especially the rhetoric of ethos, pathos and logos used in this documentary film.

Pathos is universal. Therefore, if a director hopes to touch the audience with his film, he has first to resort to pathos (emotions) to make the audience empathetic as well as sympathetic. In this documentary film  Jiro Dreams of Sushi, the audience will never fail to find that there are many close-up shots of Jiro and his son and apprentice busying with their preparation work in the kitchen. Massaging the octopus to soften its flesh, cutting the fish into thin slices meticulously and cooking the rice with the exact time set, all those close-up shots give the audience knowledge about the hard work of those sushi chefs and their devotion to what they are doing. Spectators of this film will feel respectful to them. And some may be deeply touched when they watch the scene where Yoshikazu is riding his bike back to the store after buying the whole day’s ingredients of sushi. The director gives a close-up shot of his two legs circling above the pedals. Step by step, he rides slowly but steadily, with the passers-by running or walking quickly and the cars flashing by. Symbolism is used here to denote the slow and steady effort of him. The way back to his store on his bike is just like his journey to success, which requires a great deal of effort and persistence, while the running people and cars on the street form a contrast to Yoshikazu. I think the director tries to tell that even if you live in a rushing world, with the surrounding people rushing to something, including success, you have to keep a cool head and go ahead with all your affairs wholeheartedly. Earnesty and caution is characteristic of the Japanese people. The director here uses pathos to arouse spectators’ respect or awe to those several sushi masters, as well as sushi as part of Japanese culture.

    Logos is given a full display here in this documentary film. Since the sushi store owned by Jiro is a three-star Michelin restaurant and Jiro is so highly reputed, the audience will wonder why it is so successful and what are the qualifications. To answer these potential questions that might be raised by the spectators, the director uses logic here to convince them. First, in terms of the ingredients for sushi, Jiro uses only the best and the suppliers are all experts in their own field, like the octopus supplier, shrimp supplier and rice supplier. Each of them is given some time to tell their story and make clear their professional standards of their products. Secondly, apart from the important ingredients, people making the sushi are also very critical. To tell the audience that those sushi chefs are the best, the director not only relates the story of Jiro and his two sons, but also of the apprentices in his store. Besides, what the gourmet says that it takes at least ten years for an apprentice to be regarded as qualified by Jiro adds to the effect of logos. Logic is used here to convince the spectators that they are the best sushi masters in the world

    Ethos is fully employed in this documentary film by the director to gain the trust of the spectators. There is a scene in this documentary film where Jiro talks about his two sons regarding him as a stranger at home, because he nearly spends all his time in the sushi store. When talking about this, the director gives him a close-up shot, and the background music here is very powerful with sadness dotted in it too. Jiro always appears with a strict face, showing no facial expressions, but what he feels in this scene is vividly expressed by the background music by which the audience can really feel the hard work and whole-hearted dedication of Jiro. It is no wonder why such a man could become so successful. For his devotion or even addiction to sushi, the audience will surely trust his food and this man. And on the other hand, since it is a documentary film profiling the truth, the reality from life, though the objects, people and what they say are carefully chosen by the director, it still gives people a sense of truth. People will have faith in this director as well as this film produced by him. People will trust the director, trust this film and this 85-year-old man who devotes his whole life to the perfection of sushi art.

    Jiro is a good example of gaining success through hard work, and he is also the mirror image of hundreds thousands of people in Japan or even in the world sparing no effort to reach the peak of their career. The traits Jiro has in him, are also characteristic of the Japanese people, forming their culture and identity. The director resorts to a lot of rhetorical appeals, like pathos, logos and ethos to convey this message to the audience.  I guess the result is that nearly all the spectators will be convinced and this sushi master- Jiro will be remembered long.

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