Facing the Future: Our Review of ‘The Birth of Sake’ on OVID

Posted in What's Streaming? by - February 05, 2025
Facing the Future: Our Review of ‘The Birth of Sake’ on OVID

Erik Shirai’s The Birth of Sake‘s first act shows a lot of cleaning which, understandable for obvious reasons. It is, after all, capturing the behind the scenes process of brewing the traditional Japanese beverage. The process doesn’t just involve the brewery’s all male crew, as it depicts these brewers’ lives at home with their families. Work life is a bit wider here, as there is some focus on the brew’s twentysomething heir. That heir is Yasuyuki Yoshida, who must sell his new batch to both local and international buyers. 

Making sake, for the most part, means that The Birth of Sake‘s focus is more narrow, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as focusing on the crew makes this a ‘hangout’ documentary. The previously mentioned all male crew practically sequester themselves from October to April and become a family. They share meals together and drink other alcoholic beverages, savouring those spirits like they do their company. The end of the brewing season is worth celebrating, and they eat, drink, and are wary of what tomorrow brings.

This documentary shows that it’s difficult to do and think about selling things the old fashioned way, but of course, the focus on Yoshida means that the brewery has to try these new things. Even in choosing Yoshida as The Birth of Sake‘s reluctant face, it still betrays a certain traditionalism. There’s a scene here where Yoshida talks to a buyer who says something only caring about taste. A fictional version of that conversation would go off the rails but the buyer isn’t necessarily wrong.

The Yoshida brewery is one of the few that is still following a tradition going back 2000 years. The Birth of Sake‘s behind the scenes look at that process feels, for the most part, rare. Some scenes, though, can’t hide the mundanity of the process and the men who make it work. One of those scenes involve them hanging out and pointing out the similarities of different alcoholic beverages. These gatherings may be interesting to some but others may see it and feel slightly indifferent.

That indifference doesn’t last very long though, as The Birth of Sake reveals the death of a brewers. Yoichi Yamamoto’s last image in the documentary has him red faced, joyfully singing with the men alongside him. It then shows intertitles of him passing at 44 years too young, making this particular winter much sadder. Cue the montage of winter scenes where Yoshida narrates that the work can’t stop despite this. The cinematic language here is par for the course but it still reminds viewers of bittersweet moments in life.

The Birth of Sake comes soon on OVID, commercial free and uncut.

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While Paolo Kagaoan is not taking long walks in shrubbed areas, he occasionally watches movies and write about them. His credentials are as follows: he has a double major in English and Art History. This means that, for example, he will gush at the art direction in the Amityville house and will want to live there, which is a terrible idea because that house has ghosts. Follow him @paolokagaoan on Instagram but not while you're working.
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