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November 23, 2004
Sideways, the deeper more profound look
There be spoilers ahead mateys! These are some spoilers about the plot that aren't major at first... some details. There is a major plot spoiler towards the end. I'll denote that again.
So I watched this film last Friday, had some time to write and think about it. I thought I'd share some of the stuff that really touched me in it.
Miles is the main character in the film. A writer who hasn't been able to get published and achieve his dreams, he now is a middle-school teacher just waiting for his book deal to come through. His friend Jack is about to get married, and the two go out for a week of wine, food, and golf.
We learn that Miles has been in a deep depression for a couple of years, really ever since his wife Victoria divorced him. He maintains some hope that perhaps he'll get another chance with her, he's waiting, trying to find some meaning. A waitress, Mya, has expressed interest in our wine critic, but Miles doesn't think he's ready.
Jack then drops the bombshell that Victoria got remarried a few months earlier. No one had told Miles.
This is this really painful moment in the film where I felt completely one with Miles. I knew the pain he felt, I knew the bombshell it was for him, I knew how it hurt him. Miles freaks out, grabs a bottle of wine and starts running down the hill drinking away.
He ends up at a nice dinner later, gets drunk, and leaves to go call Victoria. Once again, an incredibly painful conversation and moment in the film.
Throughout the film we see plenty of uncomfortable moments where things happen that just make you cringe in your seat. Alexander Payne has a beautiful ability to push you outside of a comfortable area as you watch his films.
BEGIN MAJOR SPOILER part
Through the conversations with Mya, we discover that Miles has a bottle of 1961 Chevel Blanc. This rare wine was going to be saved for a huge celebration, he was planning on his 10th wedding anniversary with Victoria. The wine is peaking though, and won't be much good any longer. When he tells Mya he's waiting for a celebration she responds that when you open it, it is a celebration.
Miles is at a shitty commercial winery when he finds out his book deal is over. Everything collapses at this point with Mya, Jack's girlfriend and the trip. They head back for the wedding and Miles must confront Vicki.
He sees Vicki with her new husband. They're talking and he says they should have some wine at the reception (she was as into wines as he is). She responds that she doesn't drink, and Miles doesn't put two and two together right off the bat, amazed she quit. Vicki then drops the bombshell that she's pregnant.
We see Miles leaving the wedding and turning the opposite direction of the traffic, driving home to San Diego from L.A.. He sits alone, maybe close to suicidal - Mya gone, Vicki gone, Vicki pregnant, his book dream dead, in a burger joint.
He chomps on his burger, eats an onion ring, and takes a drink from a styrofoam cup. He looks around, and reaches to a small brown bag and pours more of the 1961 Chevel Blanc into the cup. It's the beautiful scene that stuck with me.
So much there, celebration through all of the hurt, having something beautiful in with burgers and onion rings and a styrofoam cup.
The picture, in many ways says it all.
-Will
Posted by badwillhunting at November 23, 2004 01:03 PM