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Category:    Home > Reviews > Drama > Comedy > Food > Documentary > Cuisine > Biography > East Side Sushi (2015/Samuel Goldwyn/Sony DVD)/Finding Gaston (2014/Film Movement DVD)/Noma: My Perfect Storm (2015/Magnolia Blu-ray)

East Side Sushi (2015/Samuel Goldwyn/Sony DVD)/Finding Gaston (2014/Film Movement DVD)/Noma: My Perfect Storm (2015/Magnolia Blu-ray)



Picture: C+/C/B- Sound: C+/C/B- Extras: C/D/C+ Main Programs: C+/C+/B-



Though its not quite a cycle yet, we keep seeing more releases related to food and here are three of the latest...



Anthony Lucero's East Side Sushi (2015) is our one drama about a young Mexican woman (Diana Elizabeth Torres) has a food stand, but she's sick of it and getting robbed, so she by chance becomes intrigued by what is going on inside a sushi restaurant. She eventually gets a job there, but faces lite racism ('only Japanese' should be in front serving) and some lite sexism (without trivializing either) stops her from getting to where she wants to go.


The drama (with a little comedy) has some cliches and predictable moments, but it is what the actors do in their performances and the sides of life we see here that we don't see in serious filmmaking enough that make it worth a look. I had never seen these actors before, but I liked them, thought they even had chemistry and hope to see them all again in a new project. Not bad for what does work.


Deleted Scenes, Behind The Music and Behind The Sushi featurettes are the only extras.



Patricia Perez's Finding Gaston (2014) is the first of our two documentaries is a too-short 79 minutes look at how innovative chef Gaston Acurio making Peruvian food a big hit among diners looking for something more. The dishes are interesting, but so is the chef, which is why more questions should have been asked, more interviews done and more history about the food and country included. However, this is not bad and is worth a look for those interested.


There are no extras.



I can say the same about Pierre Deschamps' Noma: My Perfect Storm (2015), but it has 20 more valuable minutes to show how also-innovative chef Rene Redzepi and his world-famous NOMA restaurant (though many apparently not heard of it) trying alternative takes on all kinds of dishes. Though not that dramatically more so, it is more well-rounded than Gaston, yet makes for a good flipside to it and is part of a series of such profiles we have enjoyed more and more over the lats few years. Not bad, but again, only for the most interested.


Extras include an Original Theatrical Trailer, Deleted Scenes, Testing The Menu featurette and Noma Cuisine Gallery.



The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on East is a pretty good digital shoot and being a narrative film, that is expected and is just fine, but the same on Gaston is rougher since it is a documentary that has some good shots, but can be softer and have some detail issues throughout I wish it did not have. The 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Noma is also with its location video issues, but the tighter letterboxing backfires on the presentation and cuts into its quality.


On sound, the lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 on East is not bad for a dialogue-driven drama with some comedy, but the lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo on Gaston has some location audio issues, as does the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on Noma, cutting into the enjoyment of both. It is just not as bad on Noma, but should be less of a problem on both.



- Nicholas Sheffo


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