East Side Sushi by Anthony Lucero, and: The Hand that Feeds by Robin Blotnick and Rachel Lears (review)

East Side Sushi (Anthony Lucero, 2014) and The Hand that Feeds (Rachel Lears and Robin Blotnick, 2014) are two very different films about Latinos and food. One reflects the United States’ obsession with food as a form of self-expression, artistry, and social mobility as well as a rich resource for cultural fusion. The other documents low-wage food workers’ struggles for social justice. These films align, however, in that each asks viewers to consider the intersection between food and race in the United States.

The opening sequence of East Side Sushi, a low-budget passion project written and directed by visual effects artist Anthony Lucero, tracks the early morning routine of a Latina single mother, Juana, as she helps her aging father prep his fruit cart for the day before dropping her young daughter off at elementary school. Her father’s age prompts Juana to take on the cart for the day, while he puts in hours at a low-wage job stocking a retail store. The precariousness of street vending is made clear when Juana is robbed, a tragedy that, in combination with her poor treatment as part of the cleaning staff at a gym, impels her to look for alternative employment. She finds an alternative working in the kitchen of a sushi restaurant where she discovers not only a new cuisine, but a passionate desire to become a sushi chef, a role proscribed by both her race (not Japanese) and, more importantly, her gender.

Despite the fact that this story hews to the traditional “underdog triumphs” formula, it offers some innovative riffs on this familiar story. Refreshingly, Juana’s character is multi-faceted. She is a daughter, mother, chef, and friend. Her relationship with her co-worker and ally sushi chef Akira, played by Yutaka Takeuchi, is affectionate but not romantic; the film refuses to fall into the trap of romance as the ultimate narrative resolution. Instead, we see them getting to know each other over a period of time, partaking in each other’s cuisine, and standing up for one another. Above all—and this is what audiences have frequently responded to in the film—Juana remains dignified in the face of both gender and racial prejudice. Mexican actress Diana Elizabeth Torres plays Juana with a quiet determination that garners the viewer’s affection. Some of the other characterizations seem less fully fleshed out; Juana’s father, for example, is a curmudgeonly cultural purist who shape shifts into the world’s most supportive father in short order, while her daughter offers opportunities for sentimentality. And the sushi restaurant owner, Mr. Yoshida (Roji Oyama), is almost comically villainous (a musical score that includes insistent Taiko drumming enhances this flatness).

The screenplay stumbles at times, especially when trying to make sure the audience understands Juana’s social position and family dynamics. At other times, it is right on the mark, as in one particularly memorable scene at the TV station that is broadcasting the Champions of Sushi competition live. An administrator bows to Juana and her family. She, ever the student of Japanese culture, bows back while her father and daughter clumsily catch up. The receptionist shrugs off their awkwardness, saying “I’m not Japanese but neither are you. We are all good.” The film’s cinematography plays with our cultural obsession with “foodie” culture by providing elegantly framed close-ups of Juana’s hands forming California rolls, tuna rolls, and eventually her own fusion creations. While this mimics some of the formal strategies of television shows like Iron Chef, it also draws our attention to pre-conceived notions about the sort of people we associate with certain types of cuisine. Though limited in its locations—essentially Juana’s apartment, the interior of the restaurant, and briefly the street and the television studio—East Side Sushi deftly uses the spaces to set up racial and gender...