Sideways

Don’t get me wrong, I really liked this movie, but I can’t jump on the critical bandwagon proclaiming it best picture of the year. It can’t come close to Vera Drake or Maria Full of Grace for emotional power and social significance, which Ray and Kinsey also have in potent combination, and even among romantic comedies it might be bested by Before Sunset and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I’m a big fan of Alexander Payne, and I’m glad for any recognition he gets, but this isn’t even his best film so far, with Election a near-perfect piece of work. On the other hand, all his films get better on re-viewing, so no telling how this one will ultimately rank. As sharp and funny, touching and real, as Sideways may be, it is ultimately a buddy flick, and hence limited, even stunted. Hey, I’m a guy and I love a guys-on-the-road movie as much as the next man, and I don’t necessarily believe it takes a great theme to make a great movie. It’s very easy to identify with the characters played by Paul Giamatti (son of Yale prez and commish of MLB) and Thomas Haden Church, and both actors give them depth and shading. The supporting women, Virginia Madsen and Sandra Oh (the director’s wife), are also outstanding, though clearly subsidiary. The setting in California wine country is superb in every detail. I want to praise the set design, but it’s hard to imagine it designed and not just found, and lived in by the characters to the seedy state of genuineness it has achieved. The story has plenty of punch lines and twists, as well as shape and symmetry, and the intimate scene between the two wine-loving would-be lovers is justly celebrated. But -- I felt the movie went on too long past the two hour mark, with an unsatisfying resolution. Without spoiling the end for anyone else, I can say I wasn’t happy when the prized wine got drunk, and the final blackout did not have the perfect inevitability of the one in Before Sunset. Still, this is an entirely enjoyable and near-great film that is likely to get greater with time, like the wines it celebrates. (2004, Images, n.) *8* (MC-94, RT-96.)

Glad to see Images getting big crowds for this film. They committed to a two-week run, and then through the vagaries of film distribution, the film opened the same day at the Berkshire Mall. Just as I urge you to patronize independent bookstores instead of the chains, I urge you to support the community-centered efforts of Images Cinema by buying your tickets there.