The premise is achingly simple: the video's creator places his camera on a conveyor belt at a Tokyo/Asakasa sushi bar named Maguro-bito, which then subsequently takes the viewer on a slow, but truly engaging, circuit of the bar. You wouldn't think that four minutes of this could be very interesting, but I assure you it's fascinating!
The bar is packed with diners, some of whom react to the camera (smiling, giggling or waving), while others continue chatting or masticating furiously, either oblivous to the camera or simply not interested. The camera also passes through the kitchen. With the partition wall acting as an edit point (a sort of 'invisible wipe'), our focus is switched from the diverse, placid faces of the restaurant's diners to a much pacier environment, where sushi is being prepared by skilled hands and the odd flash of a knife blade.
It's a simple idea for a video, but a truly brilliant one, and I think it's a beautiful snapshot of life at that precise moment (9pm JST). In some respects it reminds me a little of the scene from Martin Scorsese's 'Goodfellas', when the camera follows Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) and his future wife Karen (Lorraine Bracco) from their car, down through the busy labyrinthine corridors of the Copacabana club, through the bustling kitchen, and finally into the main dining room. This famous scene was also filmed in one continuous shot and similarly exposes the viewer to a vast array of anonymous characters (the doorman, the kitchen porter, the couple kissing in the darkness of the corridor, the maître d' etc).
The 'Sushi Conveyor' video was actually uploaded to You Tube about two and a half years ago by a guy named Andy Scearce, so it's already been viewed well over 390,000 times. However, it's new to me and definitely worth sharing - so, enjoy!
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