Nobu Review – A Captivating, Enlightening Documentary, A Must See

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Category: UK A&E, Lifestyle, Culture

Published on Wednesday, 13 May 2026 13:19

Written by Janet Walker

Nobu, from The Movie Partnership, presents a food documentary showcasing one of the world's most transformative chef's Nobuyuki Matsuhisa, and his determination to elevate cuisine by introducing an innovative concept that would take the world by storm.  

The documentary opens as Nobuyuki and his business partners including the Academy Award winning actor Robert De Niro and Meir Teper are discussing the plans for the next Nobu restaurant.

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During the business meetings the Robert De Niro, who approached Nobu about opening a restaurant in Manhattan, after he had read an interview. As the story goes, De Niro was turned downed, and eventually, after Nobu's Los Angeles Matsuhisa Sushi bar expanded, he finally called De Niro and began what has become a global empire.

The Nobu organization is celebrating 30 years of introducing the world to the appetizing epicurean fare that has made Nobu famous. In these segments we understand that dining at Nobu is a planned event as his restaurants are booked moths in advance.

While the restaurant Nobu is common, with establishments in nearly every major city and luxury destinations in the world, the person behind the name, Nobuyuki Matsuhisa, is not so well known.

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Through the documentary we begin to understand Nobu, who now lives in a luxurious mansion in Beverly Hills, grew up in Japan in the middle of the nineteenth century, just after the end of WWII. As Nobu walks us through his early life, we meet his family, wife, and young daughter. We also meet his first business partner and friend, and as the story unfolds we understand the two friends were brothers.

Later in the story, after Nobu's rise to culinary fame, he begins to tell us the story of this friendship and as he returns to Japan annually, he called him and he pushed Nobu away, explaining he couldn't talk to him. The next day, and even as Nobu tells the story he is choaked up, and visibly  hurting, as he explains he friend committed suicide. He explains to the world what so many survivors of suicide victims believe; that it was somehow his fault that if he could have done something, said something, the ending would be different.

Throughout we meet other prominent chef's in the modern culinary world, Wolfgang Puck, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, those who have created a style and cuisine that is synonymous with their names, and they each talk about Nobu, as a master chef with a panache for elevating common ingredients turning them into mouth-watering delicacies.

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We also meet him as the Chef. And while he may appear unpretentious in life, in the kitchen he is a perfectionist and employs a rigorous standard; if the dish is not plated correctly, he sends it back, if the garnish is not applied exactly, he sends it back, if the chives are not chopped finely, he sends it back, until the dish has reached the level of perfection, the reputation deserves.

The documentary also takes us into the famous Malibu location, where the model Cindy Crawford and her husband Rande Gerber, are talking with Nobu. He explains once she asked him to make her anything and he creates a specialty dish that becomes a signature. The Nobu location did survive the January 2025 fires that destroyed much of the Malibu coastline.

We also meet food critics who have written about Nobu and explain the moments in his culinary journey when his effort was paying off, when they updated their car, and in the early days of launching Matsuhisa, on restaurant row in Los Angeles, back in the day when dining was an extension of marketing and PR, and anyone who was anyone, knew which restaurant caters to which celebrity.

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Nobu opened his unassuming Matsuhisa Shushi bar in 1987 in the shadow of the giants on La Cienega. Through the years, restaurant row has narrowed a bit, and when the Greek restaurant next to Matsuhisa went out of business, Nobu expanded the restaurant to include at table dining. Nobu's original Matsuhisa still remains open at the same La Cienega location.

For those who devour the food culture, Nobu provides an extraordinary opportunity to meet the chef and understand the simplicity of his mission: to enlighten and elevate palettes and bring the exquisite flavors of Japanese cuisine to the world.

A delightful treat, Nobu is a must see.

Nobu comes to Apple, Amazon, and Google, digital platforms on May 18. Pre-order on Apple here.

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Country: U.S.

Language: English, Japanese with English subtitles.

Release Date: May 18, 2026.

Runtime: 110 minutes.

Director: Matt Tyrnauer

Featuring: Nobu Matsuhisa, Robert De Niro, Cindy Crawford, Rande Gerber, Wolfgang Puck, Ruth Reichl, Meir Teper, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Drew Nieporent, Yuji Wakiya.

Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade.  A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She has also published "Unholy Alliances: A True Crime Story," and "Days, Times, Seasons, and Events: A Collection of Poetry & Prose," which can be purchased here. She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and a member of the International Federation of Journalists.