East Side Sushi

2014 "The way to a woman’s heart is through...sushi!"
7.1| 1h40m| PG| en
Details

Years of working in the food industry have made Juana, a working-class Latina, a chef of speed and skill. Searching for financial stability, she stumbles into a high-energy, male-dominated Japanese cuisine kitchen. The new atmosphere re-ignites her passions for food and life and makes her hungry to get mixed up in the flavors of this new world.

Director

Producted By

Sparklight Films

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Trailers & Clips

Also starring Diana Elizabeth Torres

Also starring Yutaka Takeuchi

Also starring James J. Der Jr.

Reviews

FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.
Pluskylang Great Film overall
Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.
Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
madisonantun Never heard of this movie but so happy that I came across it on Amazon. Really just an amazing movie. The cast was perfect. Will recommend to all of my friends.
Jal4950 This was a great movie. I would call it the "Rocky" of Sushi Chefs movie. Great story about how a Mexican woman wants to become a Japanese sushi chef but she is of the wrong gender, the wrong race, nor does not have the right credentials (training) to become a sushi chef. It is also a movie about the inter-mixing of cultures, of how Aki, a Japanese sushi chef at the restaurant where Juana works at in the kitchen, comes to recognize Juana's skills. During the course of the movie, Aki develops a professional respect for Juana's culinary skills, and even though she is not Japanese, he goes to bat for her becoming a sushi chef. The movie also intersperses Mexican and Japanese cuisine and culture as well, which I enjoyed. The part where the owner of the Japanese restaurant (a very traditional man who believes only Japanese men can be sushi chefs) changes his attitude toward Juana was very heartwarming for me. It gives me hope that everyone can change when we look at people as people and not as people of a certain ethnicity. I highly recommend this movie.
David Pride I really enjoyed this movie and found it very thought provoking. It's not every day that a movie comes out that addresses race, gender inequality, and low-income families. The movie starts a little slow but is totally worth the watch and I would recommend watching this with your daughter and discussing equal pay, gender discrimination, and diversity once it's over. I was a little suspicious that the movie may be too cheesy but it turned out to be a very nice flick. The characters felt very authentic and since I live in Maine it exposed me to some ways of life that I am not familiar with. I also think this would be a great classroom movie that could inspire a lot of great conversations and a discussions.
Jennifer Lynx Oakland, California is one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the U.S. Over 100 different languages are spoken in the region. In "East Side Sushi", we see two of those cultures collide in the most time honored tradition, over food. Juana Martinez, a single mom, and her father run a fresh fruit cart, a staple in Hispanic street food, that is when they aren't working their other jobs. Urban life has its drawbacks and when Juana gets robbed, she decides a change is needed. She takes a chance and answers a help wanted sign in a Japanese restaurant. She lands the job, discovers the passion of sushi, and sets out to become a sushi chef herself. As a Hispanic woman, this proves to be a more a difficult task than one might presume. "East Side Sushi" is a feel good story, at times hilariously funny, made on a shoestring budget, and as such has no money for advertising campaigns. Relying on word of mouth, it is finally being released in theaters, at least in California. If you like food, particularly Mexican and/or Japanese, if you live in or near Oakland, CA or just like urban themed dramas, or if you like good independent cinema, then I recommend this film. It is not a perfect film, sometimes feeling a little forced and a couple of scenes seem unlikely, but it has great pacing, some wonderful characters, a fun sense of humor and really brings out the beauty of the city across the bay.