This documentary and its subjects have been on a roller coaster ride since it was released in 2011. At first, it was a one-sided praise, and the whole network touted the craftsmanship of "only one thing in a lifetime"; later, I gradually felt that this was the Japanese over-marketing packaging to beautify the inner roll, otherwise it would be too nonsense to be an apprentice for ten years to cook eggs.
I haven't eaten it either. I don't know if it is. But the change in the trend of public opinion has a lot to do with the audience's misunderstanding of the film and the lack of culture in the film itself.
Question 1-Why is the god of sushi only to make sushi for a lifetime?
In fact, the documentary itself did not intend to deify this restaurant. It is called "Sushi Dream" in both English and Japanese. Although it is said that Jiro Ono is the god of sushi in variety shows, it is not just that things like variety shows are everywhere. Is it an exaggeration? Shen Baozhang is also known as the "ghost of change shooting".
It tells about a group of chefs headed by Ono, choosing ingredients, making rice balls, and constantly studying sushi every day, realizing the "sushi dream", with the dream of making powerful sushi. This is always okay, right? No one said they were gods. What's more, "dreams" also have some meanings of disillusionment and doubt.
Question 2-Massaging octopus and cooking rice every day, the apprentice can only cook eggs for ten years, is it sick?
The documentary director is an American, and the team’s main creators can’t speak Japanese at all, nor can they understand Japanese or Eastern culture. The production process even requires translators to first translate massive amounts of material into English and then edit them. He doesn't know Japanese, doesn't know Chinese characters, and has a poor understanding of Japanese culture and other oriental cultures.
Therefore, this American director who has been educated in a systematic film academy has distilled Ono Jiro's sushi into a very romantic, story-oriented, reader's digest-style chicken soup for the soul.
The film has actually captured the Tokyo market, fish catching, fresh produce, etc., but the angles they filmed are very touristic and travel guide-like. The American director presents it like this: "Only do one thing in your life." "Do one thing and focus on doing it best." "The mysterious power from the East."-It doesn't mean that you only do one thing in your life. It’s not good. It’s not even that the soul chicken soup is not good. It’s just that chefs like them make sushi. It’s not that simple.
There is a TV series and this documentary that are very interesting. It is the Japanese TV series "Tokyo Grand Hotel" based on the Tokyo Michelin three-star restaurant, which is also a Michelin three-star restaurant. In the process of making haute cuisine, both works say the same thing——
a. This type of restaurant is highly dependent on the chef, who produces top-level hand-made, highly original works, rather than assembly line dishes, and excellent chefs have systematic thinking. b. In terms of positioning, these stores are completely different from ordinary restaurants. They are not mass-produced and do not pursue scale expansion. So there is no need to compare them with ordinary restaurants, because ordinary restaurants need to be assembly line and volume, and the positioning target is different, which is not a thing at all.
c. For top cooking, the chef will be very, very strict, and the team gathers to contemplate hard work, study hard and practice hard. So eating top food is not paying IQ tax at all. It is similar to spending one or two thousand dollars to appreciate art on important anniversaries. It can give us an aesthetic experience that we can't normally eat. d. Find the best ingredient suppliers, because the choice of ingredients is also a subject of experience. To do well, you also need to love it and keep studying. e. High-intensity work, boring exercises, personalized service taking into account the needs of customers...
Those who have studied cooking experience will understand that there are often some subtle adjustments in the method of handling ingredients and the heat. The taste is completely different. To make a good dish is not to draw a gourd according to the recipe. As for this technique, how did you discover it? Really, from daily practice, "enlightenment" only obtains things that belong to oneself. I feel similar feelings. Anyone who devotes themselves to the project will have it, even if they play games every day.
Therefore, it is very reasonable for Ono and others to study the massage technique of octopus every day. But in this documentary, Ono massages octopus and cooks rice. It seems like a metaphysics and curiosity. It seems that it deliberately does not explain this matter.
Another point is that "Tokyo Grand Hotel" talks about French cuisine, the creativity of which is complicated. Ono’s shop, it’s said that you can cook eggs only after ten years as an apprentice. I haven’t found the reason for this. I suspect that the boiled eggs he said are boiled tamagoyaki. It’s a very particular dish. Next The jade-yaki in the picture, just looking at the shape, fully shows that the cooking has a deep inner strength. Or the boiled egg is really too exaggerated...
Finally, Ono’s shop brand is loud enough. People who get out here will definitely be able to open a shop on their own (an apprentice in the film is about to open a shop), so being an apprentice for him is not so "active" for his brain, but hardworking and calm. For people, it is definitely a very good job. This phenomenon exists in many industries: if you can really learn a lot on a platform and ensure future development after going out, it is indeed tolerable to endure hardships and even low wages-it depends on what the platform provides. Value, is it as good as they boast.
-The film did not explore the cultural attributes of Japanese materials
I have only eaten high-level Japanese food once or twice because of work. The following part of the content, my feelings are also seen from various books, and I put it here as a reflection on the structure of the film. By the way, even if I don’t know much about high-end cuisine, I’m pretty sure that from the perspective of an Oriental, this "Sushi God" (to be precise, "Sushi Dream") is relatively weak in cultural exploration. of.
Japanese food has a high status in the Fine Dining industry, which has a lot to do with its overall culture. Crayfish and grilled skewers are delicious, and Fine Dining is also delicious. They are not the same delicious. Fine Dining is like music and painting, with avant-garde/retro/fusion styles.
Although Jiro’s sushi is not kaiseki cuisine, I checked the articles written by bloggers who have studied Fine Dining, and they all mentioned that the essence of his sushi is vinegar rice, and he tried to restore the taste of the ingredients themselves. You can refer to this article: https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/24243476 , "The God of Sushi, What’s the Experience of Thirty Times?" Her description makes me feel that Ono’s sushi is very particular in audiovisual language. Before enjoying the literary and artistic films, it is necessary to understand the relevant culture to get started.
Not to mention that Japanese materials, especially high-level Japanese materials and Japanese culture, have been deeply influenced by Zen; and Zen emphasizes enlightenment, practice, pursuit of inner peace, returning to the nature of things, not pursuing excessive desires, and adhering to minimalism. aesthetics. A lot of enlightenment occurs in ordinary daily work, so there will be Zen enlightenment saying: "If you don't work a day, you can't eat a day." It is the same as Jiro won the prize in the morning and returned to the shop in the afternoon.
"Jiro Dreams of Sushi", the impression that everyone was given at the beginning was: "Persevere in doing one thing every day, do it for a lifetime, you can achieve the ultimate, and you can make sushi that is delicious enough to be called'wow'. Become the god of sushi.” Later, this narrative was questioned because people discovered: “The sushi in his family is really so much better than the usual chef? Dare to do a double-blind experiment?” “Sushi for a lifetime means that Is he bullish?" "What else can a ball of rice and a piece of fish make?" "Do you have to broaden your horizons if you don't do things well?"
In fact, the problem lies in whether "making sushi every day makes the best sushi", "sushi that is delicious enough to make people scream "wow", "the best sushi"... these statements are too desirable. It’s too purposeful, too logical and too worldly, completely contrary to Zen thought. If the craftsman's spirit is "kneading rice balls every day, in order to knead the world's first rice balls for 50 years," it is a bit of a mental illness.
But what if we understand "artisan" as "meditation"? In focused work, seek inner peace, feel life and nature, have no desires and no desires, and are not afraid of emptiness. In ordinary daily life, seek enlightenment and clarity through substantial work—this kind of experience, ordinary people don’t have to perform five Ten years, even if there are only five days, are worth feeling. It allows us to discover some aspects of the senses and the world that are different from the life of social animals and not to be slaves to desires.
Once again, I’m really not a Japanese fan, and I don’t know much about high-end cuisine. This part is put up as my reflection on the style of documentary. I think this film is popular because its narrative is very westernized and it is completely Hollywood commercial. The way of the work has been counted. But if you talk about it horizontally and vertically, it will be close to the BBC historical documentary, or it will be an interpretive form like "China on the Bite of the Tongue".
It will become how the fish fillets of this famous restaurant are cut, how the soy sauce of that famous restaurant is mixed, the aesthetic system behind the kaiseki cuisine... I personally want to watch such a movie more. However, it probably won't be popular anymore.
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