Movie Monday - 3/4/3013

Yes, I am still disgusted that Argo won Best Picture. 

I managed to watch two documentaries recently - both of which were nominated for Best Documentary.

The first is Jiro Dreams of Sushi - the story of Jiro Ono, the meticulous owner of a sushi restaurant in Tokyo, Japan.  There are only ten seats in the place, and a 3 month waiting list to get a reservation.  Jiro is now in his 80s and has been making sushi for 70 years.  He is a perfectionist about every aspect of his craft and restaurant.  His apprentices are expected to learn each step of his method perfectly before they move on to the next one.  He has two sons also in the sushi business - the older one works with him and will someday inherit his father's restaurant.  I thought the film was interesting.  I learned alot about what it takes to make sushi.

The second is set In the 1970s, when Sixto Rodriguez was essentially a musically talented singer-songwriter who signed a two album contract with a record label.  Despite the fact that the biz highly praised his music, the records didn't sell well and Sixto disappeared into obscurity.  His music was brought to South Africa by an American traveller.  It didn't take long for bootlegged copies to make the songs became quite popular.  Rumors of his death circulated the country.  Meanwhile, here in the United States, not many people knew he had ever existed.  Stephen Segerman, an independent record store owner in South Africa, began the hunt to find Rodriguez.  Searching for Sugar Man is about that search.  I really liked it.  It won the Oscar.

Then, I watched another movie. In Safety Not Guaranteed, Kenneth (Mark Duplass) places a want ad in the paper, looking for someone to join him in a time travel exercise.  This person must bring his or her own weapons and is told in full disclosure that safety is not guaranteed.  The ad is brought to the attention of a magazine.  Jeff (Jake Johnson) volunteers to find the author of the want ad.  Two interns are assigned to help him - Darius (Aubrey Plaza) and Arnau (Karan Soni).  It's a quirky, sweet little comedy.  I liked it, of course.

MK out.