To steal from the real estate playbook: there are just three secrets for making a memorable smartphone documentary: character, character, character. Australian filmmaker Andrew Robb demonstrates this wisdom in “Tofu Man,” which won Second Place in the 2016 Mobile Film Festival.

The movie’s title and the opening sequence make us think we’re going to get a lesson on turning soybeans into tofu. But very quickly, we find ourselves deep into the complex life of a Vietnamese refugee Duc Nga, who started with nothing but the desire to survive.

In this short video, we learn about the protagonist’s life: his overcoming drug addiction , creating a celebrated business, finding a wife, and raising three high-achieving children. Yes, we learn something about tofu, but we will remember a folk philosopher who says “Happiness is more important than money” whose life convinces us that he speaks the truth.

There’s much to admire in Robb’s documentary, shot with a Samsung Galaxy 2. Especially impressive is the use of B-roll (cutaways that illustrate the subject’s words). The filmmaker’s questions are also powerful.

But perhaps most astonishing is the way he’s captured a life spanning many decades in just five minutes. There are lessons here about brevity and compression that apply to travelogues, instructional videos, and many other genres.