{"id":954592,"date":"2026-05-12T10:24:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T10:24:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/954592\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T10:24:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T10:24:15","slug":"nobu-review-story-of-obsession-and-loss-that-lies-behind-the-luxury-sushi-empire-movies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/954592\/","title":{"rendered":"Nobu review \u2013 story of obsession and loss that lies behind the luxury sushi empire | Movies"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Japan<\/a>, the sushi bar where the chef chops fish for the clientele is a kind of stage. In which case all the world\u2019s a sushi bar for Nobuyuki Matsuhisa, whose deluxe Nobu chain has taken root in dozens of cities across the globe. Matt Tyrnauer\u2019s chirpy documentary charts the rise of this affable but restless pioneer, motivated since the start of his career to break out of insular Japan and shake up its cuisine. Signature dishes like his iconic black cod with miso \u2013 made with Alaskan sablefish \u2013 or Peruvian-influenced yellowtail sashimi with jalapeno veer well off the sushi-restaurant template. But don\u2019t call it fusion, Tyrnauer\u2019s film says early on; it\u2019s still Japanese food, just open to foreign ingredients and techniques.<\/p>\n

After a rocky start in life, in which a young Matsuhisa was placed on probation after reckless driving, he got \u201clost in sushi\u201d. After stints in Peru and Alaska, it was setting up Matsuhisa restaurant on Los Angeles\u2019 La Cienega Boulevard that made his name, introducing a sense of the unexpected and the lavish to the burgeoning western yen for sushi. Robert De Niro<\/a> was one convert, making an offer to set up a New York branch that Matsuhisa refused; it was something he felt he wasn\u2019t ready for. Several years on, they finally partnered to set up the first of the eponymous eateries. One of De Niro\u2019s acquaintances questioned how Matsuhisa could be a master if he just had to chop raw fish. \u201cNobu wouldn\u2019t like to hear you say that,\u201d was the actor\u2019s testy reply.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

This docu-portrait verges on corporate promo at times, though there are a couple of telling vignettes in the second half. One is Matsuhisa hauling the Los Cabos hotel staff over the coals for sloppy preparation of his dishes; the other is De Niro shooting down another partner\u2019s ill-fitting ideas for new Nobu locations. Both testify to the difficulty of maintaining a coherent culinary and brand culture in globalised ventures; Matsuhisa does indeed seem to supply a Japanese aestheticism and rigour at the centre of things. One colleague suggests his sensitivity to failure is also very Japanese: he came close to suicide after his Alaska restaurant burned down and is haunted by a feeling of responsibility for the suicide of his best friend. But having lost his father traumatically early, it\u2019s just as likely this anxiety is personal. Either way, it\u2019s clear that this sensitivity paid off in the kitchen.<\/p>\n

Nobu is on digital platforms from 18 May.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In Japan, the sushi bar where the chef chops fish for the clientele is a kind of stage.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":954593,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3935],"tags":[77,3943,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-954592","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-movies","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116561121562952818","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=954592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954592\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/954593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=954592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=954592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=954592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}