Good movie but grossly overrated

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

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

To be honest, I'll click on anything with Sushi in the title. Admittedly, I went in hoping for a lightly toned film a la Julie & Julia/Chef, but I was determined not to let my pre-conceived notions ruin the experience. I quite enjoyed the neat clean representation of the food- my favourite scene was when she first peeps into the Japanese restaurant. I actually liked the restraint to showcase a loud, over-the-top family bubbling with activity despite their situation- it was refreshingly realistic... If the acting could've held up to it. An endearing story of struggling to make life better for oneself while supporting your family- but the film really leaves a lot to the imagination, which imo is the screenplay's fault. There was no real concrete establishment of any character, location or emotion at all- at times it is frustratingly slow. It ran for 1 and a half hours like a train struggling to leave the station and left me feeling like I watched a low-budget play or depressed Disney TV movie.The mise-en-scene is highly lacking, the camera-work did a good job of bringing out intimately tense moments, but really wasn't very creative and added little to elevate the characters and physical location. It felt like a bad joke in a lot of places, especially the competition towards the end... I found myself laughing.. Which is not a good thing considering what they were trying to establish...The dialogues are ok at best, without any real punch, again because enough time was not taken to flesh out persons and situations. I was confused until the very end- was their relationship romantic? Or just really good friends? I would gift my friend a knife... And then go get tacos... Where was the romance? It felt like she was battling some inner depression the entire time, unable to let her emotions flow through freely... I kind of wanted to shake this film up entirely and give it just 10% more energy- even the youngest of the cast couldn't infuse more energy into the scenes- that is poor screenwriting, not so much acting even. Although the film could've used some more of that too. For such a simple plot, there was no balance in the visual treatment, to make it more engaging as a film.Interesting concept, I wish the editing was a liiiitle faster- not that I wanted an action film, but the pace really worked against the film in the end and it was a bit of a struggle to get through the last legs. It was slow yet choppy, sentimental yet parodical... I have a sense of what the creators were trying to accomplish, but I suppose it didn't really work for me.

I picked this movie to watch for my birthday and it was a great choice. It's a small underdog story, but with a twist, and stays true to its roots. Well-written, beautifully cast and directed, and it really evokes its locale.I'm looking forward to seeing more from this director. Great cast. The lead actress is stunning and the child who plays her daughter is delightful.A feel-good movie that's not phony and slick. Highly recommended.

EAST SIDE SUSHI is a modest film with great intentions, some freshman bumps, and enough predictability to hold it back from greatness. It's a great watch, but gets issue-laden and doesn't find unique solutions for presenting ore resolving them.Lead actor Diana Elizabeth Torres delivers her role with magnetism and genuineness. She's a promising talent and I hope to see her a lot. Visiting her IMDb page, I noticed IMDb still refers to female actors as "actresses." Time for them to retire that term in the same box as "negro" and "retarded." The scene in which ethnicity of the Asian men in the sushi bar is addressed is probably its best moment. It unravels the real reason our protagonist can't get ahead.Yutaka Takeuchi possesses a lot of magnetism and never overplays his hand, even though his role isn't written with a great deal of uniqueness. He makes a great leading man, though it would be good to see him liberated from such typical-Asian-male depiction. He's quite dashing and manages to telegraph interest below a simmer.To its credit, East Side Sushi made me ravenous, with a great desire to try sushi with fresh spicy elements.

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.