Senteur As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

WILLIAM FLANIGAN EAST SIDE SUCHI. Viewed on Streaming. Not the East Side of NYC, but Oakland, CA! Director Anthony Lucero (also credited as writer) using the ever popular Japanese movie plot of "zero-to-hero" conjures up a cross-cultural tale focused on the art of creating gourmet masterpieces using just about anything shored up by vinegared (sticky) rice. With sticky rice as a metaphor, Lucero goes after tribalism, bigotry, racism, sexism, and phony cultural authenticity in the restaurant business using a light touch with a minimum of lecturing. This proves to be a very effective approach (with a few less-than-subtitle messages tucked in here and there!). A Mexican-American single mother with a young daughter living with her widowed semi-retired and ailing father decides to refocus her life on moving up the socioeconomic ladder from fruit pushcart street vendor to becoming a renown suchi-bar chef. Lead actress Diana Elizabeth Torres seems perfectly cast as a strong woman determined to prevail against a myriad of antiquated male attitudes (including her father's) although her character's credibility suffers somewhat when the Director allows her to ham it up in confrontational scenes. Actress Kaya Jade Aguirre playing the daughter steals every scene she is in (which is customary for child players!). Cinematography (semi-wide screen, color) is excellent especially for hand shots of food preparation. Lighting and color correction are fine as is sound. Score is uneven (sometimes in the background, sometimes nearly drowning out the dialog) and over doses on taiko (drums). Subtitles are okay. Closing-credits song lyrics are not translated. An enjoyable feel-good fantasy. WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD. Details: Film = 7 stars. Cinematography = 8 stars. Lighting and color correction = 8 stars. Sound = 8 stars. Score = 6 stars. Subtitles = 6 stars. Translations = 5 stars.

patricianledezma A cute movie but would not watch again because it's so predictable. single Latina mother, trying to eke out a living, nasty ppl all pushing her down. still it has a good msg, pointing out the sexism in restaurants. I've worked in restaurants before and there's a lot of discrimination. boring ending though

lar_lef We all applaud the main protagonist in this movie, and she is why i gave it a 6, not a 5, but really sushi in all its 50 shades begins to come out of the viewer's ears and eyes, especially in the interminable first half of the film, more excruciating than enduring a series of JapaneseTea ceremonies by a coffee drinker. It made this viewer consider committing seppuku, or yearning for a samurai to disembody the cameraman. Perhaps the heroic samurai Benkei who, according to Japanese legend, killed a giant carp which had swallowed his mother when she fell into a waterfall. A more fitting title would have been "Long Days Journey into Shushi." The movie would have been conceivably sponsored by some sushi lobbying organization. I waited patiently and expectantly during the litany of sushi styles for a falafel-sushi, but no luck. OK, so my usual fish fare is gefilte fish or fish and chips-- yes, admittedly a fish proletarian.forgive my carping and giive me a burrito.

Nola Susan I saw this movie with about 7 new friends. I did not expect much. Boy, was I wrong! From the moment this movie started I identified with Juana (myself being a single mother) and how hard it was to move up in the business world. I remember being paid at least 25% less than men doing my same job (and I mean the EXACT same job). This movie is a combination of the Karate Kid, Rocky, and a Cooking Contest. That may be oversimplifying it. Truly inspirational for anyone. Good thing I remembered to grab a handful of Kleenex because I needed at least 3, the girl next to me and the girl next to her. There was even a guy sitting below us who was crying.I liked everything about the film, the location specific aspect of it, the directing, writing, acting, and the excellent cast. Have recommended it to my friends to be on the lookout to watch back in my hometown of New Orleans.Can't wait to go see it again.