Request for tutorial - what was so great about 'Sideways'?

[Cerin]

I rented this recently, remembering how it had been celebrated when it was released.

I wonder if any movie afficianados can explain what you see as the merits of the movie, and especially the screenplay, which I believe won an Oscar?

I found it unusually low key but not particularly interesting (though I did learn a bit about wine).

ETA: And what about the title? Why 'Sideways'?

[Whistler]

I haven't seen it, but I suspect that the title refers to the proper way to store wine so as to keep the cork moist.

I'm sensing a metaphor.

[vison]

This was a remake of a French film, was it not? Perhaps the title made sense in French.

I often suspect that everything makes sense in French.

[Whistler]

Vision, your comment reminds me of the James Thurber cartoon in which a man is "having all his books translated into French" because they "lose something in the original."

[vison]

I am utterly gobsmacked to think that anything I could possibly say could remind anyone of James Thurber. I love James Thurber. Now and again I dig out his wonderful books and reread certain favourite stories, such as the one about his dog Rex. Remember Rex? I still get tears in my eyes reading that story about a dog that lived and died many years before I was even born. What a lovely, lovely writer he was. Thurber, not Rex.

I don't know the cartoon you mean. Is it available in a collection? My favourite cartoon is the one where the guy is showing someone around his house and his first wife is crouched on top of the bookcase. Remember that one? Or the guy in court, when the lawyer produces a kangaroo and says, "Maybe THIS will refresh your memory!"

Thank you for prompting me to go right now and get A Thurber Carnival off the shelf and bury myself in it.................

[Whistler]

My favorite is the intellectual-looking man in a gallery. As he gazes intently at the pictures, a lady observes that "he knows all about art, but he doesn't know what he likes."

[Cerin]

I didn't have the impression this was a remake. I think it said something like, 'from the book by ...'

Though of course, that doesn't mean it wasn't made before.

I'll have to look up Thurber.

[Whistler]

Sorry we've sidetracked the thread (or turned it sideways) but obviously we have nothing constructive to say!

[Cerin]

That's quite alright! Your 'nothing constructive' is every bit as enlightening and enjoyable as something 'constructive' (though just on a different topic).

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Cerin, I saw Sideways, and I wasn't particularly impressed, though Beth liked it better then I did. Of course, I respect her opinion more then my own, so there you have it.

I believe it was adapted from a novel, not a remake.

[yovargas]

I remember liking this quite a bit, finding it quite touching, but ultimately wondering the same thing you did - what's so great about this?

Maybe you have to be a wine afecianado to get it...

[vison]

It wasn't adapted from a French film. But it shoulda bin. Everyone knows the French know all about wine. And suffering. And acidie, and ennui, l'affairs de la coeur, etc., etc.

[vison]

It wasn't adapted from a French film. But it shoulda bin. Everyone knows the French know all about wine. And suffering. And acidie, and ennui, l'affairs de la coeur, etc., etc.

[sauronsfinger]

rather mediocre film ..... vastly overrated ..... going on that wine tour may be fun but watching some disfunctional people do it was not...

[Pearly Di]

I enjoyed this movie greatly.

Because it's poignant and witty and touching and it made me laugh like a drain.

And because I was taken with Paul Giamatti's performance.

And because I like road movies, which is what this is, really.

It's about the disappointments and unfulfilled dreams of middle age, and it touched a chord.

Not that I'm a plump middle-aged bloke who doesn't like Merlot, I hasten to add.

Oh, and because I liked the soundtrack.

PS. The movie I thought was REALLY over-rated was 'Lost in Translation'. Yawn. Not even the lovely Bill Murray could save this for me. YAWN.

[Cerin]

How interesting that you should mention 'Lost in Translation', Pearl, as I was also thinking of that one in relation to this. I found 'LIT' to be touching and extraordinary, though I would be hard-pressed to put into words why (not being fluent in the language of movies).

For one thing, I found the principals in this movie to be dishonest, selfish, vulgar, unkind and self-absorbed to an unattractive degree, not people I would want to be like or care to know; the principals in LIT, on the other hand, I found to be genuine, interesting and kind, so I cared about their situation.


edit to change 'principles' to 'principals'!

[yovargas]

I think you just hit it on the head, Cerin. Both those pics are really fairly simple pics, with nothing particularly unusual or original going on. They're both quiet little character pictures. What determines whether they work or not, I think, is whether or not you identify with the characters. Though I would probably say LiT is a better movie (the direction was lovely, imo) I connected with the main character in Sideways a lot more than either of LiT's characters. I identified in some way and therefore found it touching. But I can totally understand a lot of people finding the Sideways guy an unlikeable or uninteresting character.

[Pearly Di]

But I can totally understand a lot of people finding the Sideways guy an unlikeable or uninteresting character.

I find him neither unlikeable nor uninteresting ... he's foolish, certainly. But not unlikeable. (His friend is a selfish idiot but even he is not entirely dislikeable.) What I like about 'Sideways' is that it's a gentle look at human folly and human regret.

Perhaps I should try 'Lost in Translation' in a better mood ... Bill Murray rarely fails to win me over. The gentle jibes at Japanese culture just failed to work the charm. And although Scarlett Johanssen gives a nice performance, perhaps I'm too aware of - and irritated by - Scarlett hype.

[Whistler]

I like movies with car chases.

[Cerin]

And here I thought you had more sophisticated tastes!