Thoughts on “Sideways”
So Roger Ebert loved Sideways. Suzan and our friend Jo (proud owner of this fine establishment) saw it last night. Suzan hated it, Jo and I both liked it but neither of us could explain why or even what it’s about. I had some half-assed theory about male inpotence (ala About Schmidt) that didn’t stand up to any scrutiny.
Have ya’ll seen this movie? What do you think it’s about?
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I saw it with a friend a couple of weekends back, and we both loved it. My family lives in the Santa Barbara County wine country, so the little towns were *very* familiar. I’ve been to Buellton and Solvang any number of times, and I’ve eaten dinner at A. J. Spurs more than once.
I thought the cast was phenomenal, and I really enjoyed spending the two hours with these funny, fractured, sad, and ultimately moving characters.
What was it about? It was about a certain type of addiction that isn’t quite alcoholism (although it’s on the borderline). It’s about the hopeful look on Paul Giamatti’s face when he gives the manuscript of his novel (“The Day After Yesterday”, so brilliant a title) to Virginia Madsen. It’s about the small, perfect scene between Giamatti and Madsen when he explains why he prefers pinot noir. It’s about never ordering the effin’ merlot.
God, now I want to see the movie again.
I saw it with a friend a couple of weekends back, and we both loved it. My family lives in the Santa Barbara County wine country, so the little towns were *very* familiar. I’ve been to Buellton and Solvang any number of times, and I’ve eaten dinner at A. J. Spurs more than once.
I thought the cast was phenomenal, and I really enjoyed spending the two hours with these funny, fractured, sad, and ultimately moving characters.
What was it about? It was about a certain type of addiction that isn’t quite alcoholism (although it’s on the borderline). It’s about the hopeful look on Paul Giamatti’s face when he gives the manuscript of his novel (“The Day After Yesterday”, so brilliant a title) to Virginia Madsen. It’s about the small, perfect scene between Giamatti and Madsen when he explains why he prefers pinot noir. It’s about never ordering the effin’ merlot.
God, now I want to see the movie again.
Wow, I loved this film, and not just because I’m in the wine business. I loved the unlikely but completely believable friendship between these two guys. They’re like two imperfect halves of a person, each trying to pull the other his way just a bit.
Wow, I loved this film, and not just because I’m in the wine business. I loved the unlikely but completely believable friendship between these two guys. They’re like two imperfect halves of a person, each trying to pull the other his way just a bit.
If you have to ask what the film was “about,” then it might not be for you. “Sideways” is one of those rare films that presents different meanings to different individuals. If I had to nail something down, I’d say the film was a shrewdly observed study of coming to terms with life’s potential (however sketchy or deviant) while accepting one’s own self and one’s own limitations — the way that middle-aged people often do. It’s about conquering passive malaise and ACCEPTING what remains within and without. It’s about excess, humility, taking chances, staying the course, avoiding danger, realizing that the older you get the more you know nothing, and becoming sensitive to feelings rather than superficial objects.
Something like that.
If you have to ask what the film was “about,” then it might not be for you. “Sideways” is one of those rare films that presents different meanings to different individuals. If I had to nail something down, I’d say the film was a shrewdly observed study of coming to terms with life’s potential (however sketchy or deviant) while accepting one’s own self and one’s own limitations — the way that middle-aged people often do. It’s about conquering passive malaise and ACCEPTING what remains within and without. It’s about excess, humility, taking chances, staying the course, avoiding danger, realizing that the older you get the more you know nothing, and becoming sensitive to feelings rather than superficial objects.
Something like that.
I have to ask…If it “presents different messages to different individuals” how could it not be for me?
I have to ask…If it “presents different messages to different individuals” how could it not be for me?
While I can appreciate the craftsmanship that went into Sideways, I found it slow and generally boring, not to mention a bit raunchy for my taste. Funniest line: “Are you chewing gum?”
While I can appreciate the craftsmanship that went into Sideways, I found it slow and generally boring, not to mention a bit raunchy for my taste. Funniest line: “Are you chewing gum?”
What’s the title “Sideways” mean?
What’s the title “Sideways” mean?
Just to answer my own question now that I have found the discussion on another site: Wine is always stored sideways; the discussion in the first winery that the wine has to be swirled sideways in the glass and it should still hold its color, etc.; sideways is another term for drunk from the novel; they take a number of sideways turns (down winery roads, leaving Sandra Oh’s house) that it becomes a metaphor for not being on the straight and narrow.
Just to answer my own question now that I have found the discussion on another site: Wine is always stored sideways; the discussion in the first winery that the wine has to be swirled sideways in the glass and it should still hold its color, etc.; sideways is another term for drunk from the novel; they take a number of sideways turns (down winery roads, leaving Sandra Oh’s house) that it becomes a metaphor for not being on the straight and narrow.