A Glowing Portrait of the Japanese Chef and His Empire

A topic’s appeal can take a documentary a great distance. That’s the case in Matt Tyrnauer’s newest challenge, Nobu, a glowing portrait of Nobu Matsuhisa. The Japanese chef is finest identified for his empire of luxurious sushi eating places (and extra lately, resorts), the place company can expertise his medley of dishes impressed by his Japanese roots and early foray into Peruvian delicacies. In Nobu, primarily based on Matsuhisa’s memoir of the identical identify, Tyrnauer (additionally in Telluride this yr with Carville: Profitable Is Every part, Silly) anchors the worldwide phenom’s identify to a persona. 

Nobu is an easy and admiring portrait of its topic. The movie will seemingly enchantment to followers of the chef (particularly since this yr marks the thirtieth anniversary of the primary Nobu restaurant), however it might not fully satiate the culinary-curious. Much less process-oriented and extra wide-ranging than David Gelb’s shiny doc Jiro Desires of Sushi, Nobu appears to be like at Matsuhisa as a person and a model, providing bits of biography alongside insights into the chef’s steadily rising empire. 

Tyrnaeur shapes Nobu round prolonged interviews with Matsuhisa, who generously particulars his early years rising up in Japan, his need to turn out to be a sushi chef and the minor successes and main failures of his early ventures. These conversations, supplemented by interviews with Matsuhisa’s spouse, Yoko, and his two daughters, Junko and Yoshiko, type a comparatively candid biography and showcase Matsuhisa’s persona. His humor — characterised by Dad jokes and deadpan supply — enlivens his storytelling and makes the early a part of the doc really feel extra intimate. Tales about Matsuhisa’s childhood reveal a childhood marked by untimely grief and a fascination with sushi-making. He likens the method of watching a chef delicately press items of fish onto rice and serve it to prospects to seeing an actor on stage. To Matsuhisa, sushi is not only a delicacies however a efficiency. 

When the chef talks concerning the inspiration for standard dishes like black cod miso or experiments within the kitchen, Nobu nears its full potential as a documentary. Anecdotes about Matsuhisa’s early years in Peru, the place he encounters cilantro for the primary time, and restaurant ventures in Anchorage and later in Los Angeles affirm the inventive thread that undergirds his multi-million greenback enterprise. These moments enrich the portrait with tactical proof of an artist at work. It’s once we can witness the genius as an alternative of simply listening to about it from the movie’s varied speaking heads. A standout sequence comes close to the top of the documentary, when Nobu, in a uncommon transfer, decides to host shut buddies at his house in Japan. Right here, the chef’s theories about sushi-making as efficiency are distilled into motion. Whereas shaping bits of saltwater eel onto a plate, Matsuhisa regales his company with jokes and tales about his early culinary days and his more moderen ones as a global celeb. 

And what a star Matsuhisa has turn out to be. Tyrnauer dedicates a good portion of Nobu to the enterprise of operating a worldwide conglomerate. With dozens of eating places worldwide and a handful of resorts, Nobu is now a luxurious good. Tyrnauer travels with the chef — all the time personal, hardly ever industrial — to his varied eateries with a particular deal with Nobu Los Cabos and Nobu London. He additionally sits in on board conferences with Matsuhisa and his Nobu co-founders Robert De Niro and Meir Teper, the place the trio negotiate growth offers and visions of the model’s future. The filmmaking is direct right here, targeted extra on the switch of data than scoring fashion factors.

Every of Matsuhisa’s eating places adheres to Nobu’s modus operandi — intimate luxurious, high quality meals — whereas additionally utilizing native elements to mirror cultural appetites. Tyrnauer contains interviews with writers like Ruth Reichl and cooks like Wolfgang Puck to assist map the chef’s affect on the culinary world. A few of these strands are launched and deserted at a quick clip, contrasting with the regular tempo established within the biographical part.

With a lot to cowl and such a flattering sheen, the documentary largely sidesteps areas of potential rigidity. When the company tradition is described as familial, questions on labor practices, together with some recent-ish lawsuits, are left unaddressed. And a second of disagreement between De Niro and Teper concerning the path of the corporate — increase quickly in pursuit of capital or transfer slowly to keep up excessive requirements — is noticed however not assessed. It’s because of this that Nobu features finest as a primer, a tasting menu for all issues Nobu — man and model.