TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL 2015 // A FILM REVIEW OF "THE BIRTH OF SAKE"
The 2015 Tribeca Film Festival, presented by AT&T, runs April 15th-26th and features hundreds of features, documentaries, short films, and special events all throughout downtown New York City. The ArtsWire Weekly's three featured reviewers Mateo, Derek, & Chrisena are hitting the festival and bringing the reviews right to you! What you should see and what you should skip...
Sake, the traditional Japanese drink, has been around for 2,000 years. Brewed with delicate care every single year, thousands upon thousands have dedicated their seasons to the making of the ancient brew. THE BIRTH OF SAKE captures one year in the brewing of it from the 144 year old Yoshida brewery. The Tedorigawa brand still brews sake there, and does so season after season. Director Erik Shirai spends a year with them, watching their painstakingly precise technique and shows the dedication and love that comes with making this special drink. The head brewmaster is Teruyuki Yamamoto, who's made this his life's passion for the majority of his life. His young protégé is Yasuyuki Yoshida, 27 years old, and will soon take over the keys to the kingdom. Many breweries, as we are told, no longer make sake the traditional way, as it takes too many men, too long of a time commitment, and there are simply not enough people willing to give their life to the making of it. The employees here live together; work together, and only with their extreme hard work and dedication can this process work.
Watching what these men sacrifice and how hard they work to deliver their product is truly inspiring, and Shirai's documentary does a wonderful job highlighting it. They do it without complain and with a smile on their faces. Young Yoshida even travels around Tokyo during the off-season to sell their brand to potential customers. Sake, we also learn, is not nearly the hot property it once was, but you wouldn't know it by the Yoshida brewery. Cinematographer Erik Shirai expertly uses color and black and white to showcase the making of this craft drink. Beautiful imagery pulls you in and makes you feel as if you're part of the brewing process itself. It's also easy to get pulled in by one of the film's many charms, the gentle Teruyuki Yamamoto, leading most of the story. Even if you have no knowledge or interest in the making of Sake, THE BIRTH OF SAKE will make you a convert, and will probably make you more than a bit thirsty.
VERDICT: SEE IT
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY Erik Shirai FEATURING Yamamoto Toji, Tasuyuki Yoshida
Playing as part of The 2015 Tribeca International Film Festival. For tickets & schedules: http://www.tribecafilm.com
MATEO MORENO recently won a bet on who could hold their breath the longest underwater. He won the bet, having beat local loudmouth Jimmy "Thunderbird" Thomas with a record breaking "fourteen minutes." True, part of that time was him unconscious and the other part was him being revived, but he still counts it, and is now $20 richer. Take THAT Thunderbird! He currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.