Such a frustrating disappointment

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

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.

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.

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.

Behind the scenes at our favorite restaurants are the hidden, talented and relentlessly hard-working individuals who are instrumental in delivering the dining experience, but all too often do not share the spotlight. This is a film about a tough, young single mother who tries to move out from behind the scenes.But it so much more than that -- it is a touching, funny, inspirational film about family, parenting, cross-cultural friendship and understanding, breaking glass ceilings and cultural barriers, and determination. Most importantly, the story unfolds and the characters develop (and some, evolve) at a perfect, subtle pace. In these days of hateful, sound-bite generalizing and bashing of people who do not look like me, this film is a reminder of how wrong the talking heads are.