His monklike devotion to realizing “the ideal moment of deliciousness” with each piece of sushi he crafts has made 85-year-old Jiro Ono (left) a legend in his native Japan. Tastings at his 10-seat, three-Michelin-star restaurant, Sukiyabashi Jiro—improbably tucked in the bowels of Tokyo’s Ginza subway station—cost $350 a pop and take months to secure. Now, the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi (opening March 9) gives the rest of us unfettered access to the master and his apprentices, who are required to work for 10 years before earning the right to cook their mentor’s delicate egg sushi. Filmmaker David Gelb’s lyrical portrait also probes Ono’s top-of-the-pecking-order status with the city’s fish and rice experts—including a frenetic glimpse into the typically off-limits bluefin auctions—and the chef’s complex family dynamic. “By the end [of the film], you’re just in awe of him,” Gelb says. “Not only is he a genius at sushi, he’s a genius at life.”
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