April Blind Spot: Sideways(2004)

I needed something recent this month to satisfy by idiosyncrasies of the list making that I talked about in the last post and though I have strayed a bit from it already, preferably something from the '1001 Movies' to comply with my idea of watching movies from the list all month. Considering all these boundaries I've put on myself, I think I only had one choice - Alexander Payne's Sideways(2004), a movie I have been meaning to watch for almost a year based on countless recommendations it has received. 

First and foremost, what makes this a Blind Spot movie? In other words, why is this film essential?

In all honesty, there is only one reason - Alexander Payne. Alexander Payne really impressed me with The Descendants(2011) and even more so with Election(1999) which I saw afterwards. When I wanted to include one of the recent movies in this year’s list, Sideways was the first one that came to my mind because I’ve heard so much about this movie. It is considered as one of the best movies made in recent years. Almost every list includes it as one of the best of the decade. It is one of the few movies of the recent years that are equally lauded by critics as well as masses and still unseen by me. I guess that is what this Blind Spot series is for – to knock off such titles.

So, what is the story about?

Jack and Miles have been friends since their freshman year in college. Now they are both leaning towards middle age and Jack is about to get married. Before he does, these two best friends set out for a week to have a good time. Miles, who has been a long time wine enthusiast, takes his friend to the wine country in California where plan is to hit different vineyards tasting fine wine, play some golf and send Jack off to his married life. Jack however has his own plan. He desperately wants to have one last fling before getting married. Miles and Jack, despite being best friends, are very different people. Miles is a middle school English teacher and struggling writer who is trying to get published. He is divorced and is fighting with depression ever since. Jack is an actor though not much successful. Some people recognize him but most won't. However, more importantly, he is happy-go-lucky kind of person who just goes from one mistake to another. He is like a small child in many ways who has to have a certain toy regardless of everything else.

Miles is a kind of known face in wine country and has many friends and acquaintances there, one of which is Maya. Maya is a hotel waitress they meet on the first day and Jack immediately fancies her but it looks like she is more interested in Miles. In one of the wineries they also meet Stephanie, who is more adventurous kind, more like Jack’s type. Jack and Stephanie hit it off immediately and in a typical fashion, he just doesn’t get where to stop. Jack gets his fling and as you would expect, Miles and Maya struggle though eventually find some common ground to connect to each other. However Jack’s impending nuptial, which they have kept secret from their female friends, plays its part in both their relationships. In a typical Alexander Payne style, it is much more interested in progression of the characters in a limited space than story and once again he succeeds in making audience care for them, even at their worst, with his pen.

What did I think of it? What did I like the most about it and what didn't I like?

Like any other Payne movie, its characters and the way he portrays them in his screenplay is by far the best thing about Sideways and is underlined by his Oscar win. It is very typical of him to have characters that talk and walk and behave like normal, real people we see every day around us like Shailene Woodley’s Alex or to take a clown of a character who you would think has nothing more to do than give us something to laugh at and then give him such an amazing depth like Sid in The Descendants. Thomas Haden Church and his Jack fit into that definition too. He is very easy to just call a terrible person and hate based on sheer stupidity of his actions in movie but Payne gives his character much more depth that makes it difficult to just brush off as one-dimensional. However, I think Maya here is that typical Payne character. Very natural, very real in her acting, someone that probably will not catch your eye the first time you see her but Payne brings her out so well and Virginia Madsen who stamped it with an Oscar nod. Paul Giamatti who is at the center of it all is obviously superb in it and deserves a lot of credit for it. He and Maya talking about Pinot sitting in Stephanie’s porch was my favourite scene of the movie that showcases everything that is good about this movie.

Another notable thing about Sideways is its humour. It’s different from what we are used to, very subtle and mostly comes from the situations characters find themselves in. There are many elements in it, especially concerning Jack and all his adventures that would make it an adult comedy but it never makes any crass jokes about any of them. Plus all the talk about wine was interesting. I don't understand anything about it; I don't even drink but the passion with which they talk about it, especially Paul Giamatti, was intriguing  Overall, I liked it. It is not Payne’s best work, I still think that is Election but I don’t have anything particularly negative to say about it. My only complaint is despite everything I liked about this movie, I still have a lingering feeling of disappointment somewhere. It might just be that I had lot more expectations from it after all the praise I heard of it but in all fairness, that is not something I shall hold against it. I’ll try not to.

After having seen it, do I agree with its 'essential' status? And why?

This is where I kind of struggle to articulate an exact response of how I feel about it. From whatever I have written above, it should be ample clear that I like this film. Yes, I don’t think it is Payne’s best work but that is more of a compliment to his resume than a dig against Sideways. However, I don’t think I have got enough from this film to justify this essential status. Reason I am faltering to substantiate this is there is no checklist in my mind to qualify for such a tag, it is all very subjective. There is also personal tendency of mine not to call many recent films essentials or classics. There are likes of The Dark Knight(2008) or There Will be Blood(2007) that I will not hesitate a heartbeat to put into that category but it definitely doesn’t reach that status for me; it didn’t even clear ‘one of the best of the decade’ bar for me. It is a good movie that I will definitely recommend to others but unfortunately I don’t think that qualifies it to be an ‘essential’ film in your film knowledge.

Does it open few new doors for me? Does this inspire to watch any other movies?

Once again, it is more about wrapping the things up than opening new avenues. Since I saw The Descendants in theater last year, I have been meaning to get more of Alexander Payne and with Sideways, I have pretty much seen all of his feature films except The Passion of Martin(1991), which actually I haven't even heard of anywhere. He was someone I was looking forward to watch more of and I have to say that he has never disappointed me yet. His subtle humour, very real and easily relatable characters and his screenplays have always fascinated me. I might even try and find this last one just so I can get to profile.

2013 Blind Spot Series

At around the same time last year, Ryan McNeil @The matinee put out a call to fellow bloggers to join him in 'Blind Spot Series'. I remember sitting behind my desk at then student job and trying to compile the list. I was hardly 6 months into blogging, wasn't sure how long will I go on for. I wasn't even sure what constitutes as a blind spot and what didn't but more importantly, there were far too many blind spots in my knowledge just to pick 12 from then. When he published his 2013 line-up week or two ago, a whole year of blogging and 300 movies later - many of which would have made my list last year, I think I am at the point now that I can be part of it. First of all, to those who don't know what this is, allow Ryan to introduce you. 

“Cull together a list of “Blind Spot” films…movies that we as movie enthusiasts likely should have seen by now, but haven’t for one reason or another. After narrowing the list down to a truly manageable twelve titles, the goal would be to watch all twelve over the course of the next year, and to write one’s thoughts afterwards.”

And my choice of 12 movies goes as follows, in chronological order -

Frankenstein(1931)

Snow White and Seven Dwarfs (1937)

The Treasure of Sierra Madre (1948)

Tokyo Story (1953)

The Searchers (1956)

Through a Glass Darkly(1961)

Andrei Rublev(1966)

The French Connection(1971)

Barry London (1975)

The Breakfast Club (1985)

The Lion King (1994)

Sideways (2004)

Off course, I have taken care of covering as many decades as possible. I consciously chose couple of animated movies, couple of silent and few foreign movies as well. I am beginning to wonder if I have a kind of an OCD while making these lists. I highly doubt if I ever make a list and not wonder about whether it covers various genres and times etc. But I digress. So, the point is I will watch these 12 movies, 1 each month next year and then write about it. However instead of writing usual paragraphs about these movies, I was thinking about doing something different with them and Dan Heaton @Public Transportation Snob came to the rescue. I decided to go with Question and Answer format which will consist of me writing answers to some specific questions like these:

First and foremost, what makes this a Blind Spot movie? In other words, why is this film essential?

So, what is the story about?

What did I think of it? What did I like the most about it and what didn't I like?

After having seen it, do I agree with it's 'essential' status? and why?

Does it open few new doors for me? Does this inspire to watch any other movies?

Hopefully, these questions will cover everything that I want to talk about. So, what do you think of my list? Any of your favourites that I should be looking forward to on the list?

Wrapping it Up: June

It has been quite an eventful month. I completed a year of blogging U, Me and Films this month. Once again, I will say Thank You to everyone who commented on the post that day, or tweeted me or re-tweeted me. It really was overwhelming and definitely is one of the reasons that has helped me keep writing. I also put up '1001 Movies' page this month, as I promised few months ago. If anyone is interested, you can see it on the top bar. However, let us get right into what did I see over month of June.

JUNE

The Double Life of Veronique(1991): I am not really sure if it is Kieslowski or Irene Jacob but there is something transcendental about Jacob's face, about expressions on her face that keeps me staring at her face ardently. Kudos to Kieslowski to bring it on screen as a complete package with gripping story and palpable emotions. It surely was a great start of month.

Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikandar(1991)(Re-Watch):This has a lot of nostalgic value. One of the movies that I loved as a kid, even before all this movie geekery started. It hasn't aged too well and feels too formulaic now but sometimes you have to listen to your heart and not your brain. 

Modern Times(1936)(Re-Watch): I was almost sure that I have seen this as a kid but I could only remember this in parts. It all came back to me while watching but I am happy that I saw it once more as you can almost never get it wrong with Chaplin.

Jules and Jim(1962): To tell you the truth, in the first 15 minutes I felt like Trauffaut was being a little too intellectual, on the verge of being pretentious. With the entry of Catherine, however it warmed up to me in the middle part until the end. But again in last 15-20 minutes, Catherine's behaviour had me pretty much turned off. There is a lot to like about this movie, in direction, story and technical aspects of it but if you do not care about the way it ends, especially being such a dramatic end, I don't think bodes well overall.

Police Academy(1984): I have no freaking idea why did I see it ? To tell you the truth, for some reason I always thought this was Jackie Chan movie and I usually love most of them, if nothing else for some great action. This was nothing like it, not even 'so bad it's good' way, just plain BAD.

Notorious(1946)(Re-Watch): Because it is my favorite Hitchcock and one of my all-time favorites and because of this.

Fallen Angels(1995): I haven't seen any other Kar Wai Wong since In The Mood for Love(2000) which I loved. So, I jumped on it when I saw it available on Netflix. But, this was a little too weird for me, especially the part with the mute guy even though all the usual Kar Wai Wong stuff like beautiful cinematography and very distinct background score was all there.

Belle De Jour(1967): Another Bunuel after The Discreet Charm of Bourgeoisie(1972) and That Obscure Object of Desire(1977). It wasn't as good as Discreet Charm but God, Catherine Denueve was amazing. I will probably never understand the whole surrealism thing, even this idea of housewife spending her weekday afternoons as a prostitute because she is bored didn't go down easily but it was so bizarre and I mean it in a good way.

Much Ado About Nothing(1993): This movie has caught me in dichotomy. On one hand, I actually enjoyed it quite a bit and thought Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh were really good in respective parts and I liked twists in the end too. While on the other hand, couple of things irritated me to no end like that language - I know that probably was authentic Old English but did they really have to use it? Also, I am no Shakespearean expert but who in this freaking world thought of Keanu Reeves and Denzel Washington as Brothers ??

Election(1999): My third Alexander Payne after The Descendants(2011) and About Schmidt(2002) and this surely was best so far and this is coming from someone who loved The Descendants(2011). Check out my review here.

Breathless(1960): Let me first start with saying that I quite liked it, especially lengthy conversations between Michel and Patricia. But there were few things that did bother me like that jump Cutting which may have been revolutionary then but it bothered me. And first 10-15 minutes of it - too much randomness. But, it settled down really well with Jean Seberg's entry. In the end, this will probably a movie that I understand and appreciate the importance of but do not get the appeal of.

2 Days in Paris(2007): It is completely inappropriate, way over-sexed and even racist at times, ohh and sexist too. But it was Hilarious !! Adam Goldberg was perfect for this kind of role and Julie Delpy seems to be getting hang of it after Before Sunrise/Sunset. I think I am now ready for 2 Days in New York(2012).

Iron Man(2008): And this is not a Re-Watch. I had never seen this before and I have seen Iron Man 2(2010) in theater. My room-mate wanted to watch all the Avenger movies after watching it since he has seen none of them. I sill haven't seen any of hulk movies yet, but otherwise probably the best of the lot yet.

L'Avventura(1960): Continuing my 'Foreign movies made in 60s from 1001 movies list', I ventured from French New Wave into Italian existentialism with Antonioni. For some reason, I could connect with this a lot more than any of the French movies I saw this month. It seemed much more plausible, much more natural, controlled.

Gods Must Be Crazy II(1989): Last month I saw first part of this movie and it was probably the most hilarious movie I have seen - I said that I never laughed so long and so hard in my whole life. I went into second part with little less expectations. It wasn't LOL kind of movie that the first one was but it was still very innocent, genuine and still good for few laughs.

The Audrey Hepburn Story(2000): Even though every single person that knew Audrey Hepburn was as enamored, as devoted by her charm as I am is little hard thing to digest but that's what this film tells me. However personally that is not the biggest success of this movie. It is the fact that despite my devotion, I have actually never written anything about her is soon to change. I really don't have much to say about this movie as I kept imagining real Audrey Hepburn at that place and once she is there, there is almost nothing I think is wrong with it.

Last Year at Marienbad(1961): I had no idea what was I watching for 90 minutes. It seemed to be getting somewhere by the end, but my brain was completely turned off by then to process anything. It just felt too tedious and laborious to reach from where it started. It might be my own loss that I could not keep my attention as I could not connect the dots in the end, but even that incessant background music was annoying the hell out of me by then. I don't want to call it a bad movie though - it was stunning visually, even the idea and execution was very unique but maybe next time I will have little more patience to understand it.

Doctor Zhivago(1965): I first heard of Doctor Zhivago and Boris Pasternak in an article about how he was harassed by the soviet government. I have been meaning to read/watch this ever since. It also spent quite a bit of time in my queue only because of its 199 minuted of running time. But, I am really glad to have finally seen it. I am still sure that if I read the book, it will affect me much more deeply but even movie touched me somewhere deep down.

Judgement at Nuremberg(1961): I usually don't but DVDs without watching a movie first but I have been looking for this for a long time and one day while I was waiting for The Hunger Games(2012) to start, I found it lying in one of the discount bins at one store. I am really glad that I bought it then because even though it was lying around for few months, I am sure that this will be in my top 100 list very high whenever I decide to revise that list. However, I will refrain from saying much further as it is difficult to say anything without getting into the politics of it for which I don't think this is right place.

Crazy, Stupid, Love(2011): I was little skeptical about it since I usually can not stand Steve Carell, especially when he is being himself. But I really like all the three other leads and I had heard lot of praise for it. So, I gave it a go and it is just what name suggests Crazy, Stupid and Fun and lot of it, even Steve Carell was so much better, not at all like him.

Arsenic and Old Lace(1944): I am little confused as to how to describe this. I didn't think it was a terrible movie but for some reason, I was infuriated by the end of it. You know Cary Grant in it in the end, I was feeling just like him - I wanted to charge up the stairs, scream at the top of my lungs, hit people, break things and I swear I am not like that usually. I guess it was little too much slap-sticky for me to take but then again, I really don't think it was a terrible movie.

Driving Miss Daisy(1989): Morgan Freeman and Jessica Tandy were both solid and it was absolutely pleasant otherwise. I had couple of small issues with it like in the end when she starts to deteriorate, it felt like it happens out of nowhere and I had no idea of any timeline. But, still worth watching for two leading performances.

Videodrome(1983): I usually don't say this foe any movie, but I HATED this movie passionately. There wasn't a single thing I liked in this movie, all around boring and pathetic. I wasn't scared, I wasn't least bit intrigued, I was only appalled and disgusted. It did become a little better in second half of it but once there comes a point where I stop watching a movie and start finding out flaws in it, and after that it is really difficult to get me back into it.

Broadway Danny Rose(1984): Another movie that warmed up a bit in second half whereas first half was stupid and very predictable. Woody Allen was being himself once again and there are very few occasions I can bare him alone for one and half hours and this wasn't one of them. Mia Farrow was saving grace here, very different from what little I have seen of her. I don't mean to sound acerbic as in the end I wasn't really disappointed because of second half but I am not really singing praises of it either.

Can on a Hot Tin Roof(1958): Tennessee Williams certainly knew how to make portray dysfunctional families in his provocative plays. It still isn't Virginia Woolf(1966) or even Long Day's Journey into Night(1962) but Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman and Burl Ives just kill it. Dialogues certainly got to be the best aspect of this play but you know what, turn it off completely and I still can look at Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman all day long.

Pineapple Express(2008): It is got to be one of the most completely ridiculous, no-brainer and just outright stupid stoner comedies - Seth Rogen and Company doing what they can do best. Most of the times it just disgusted me but it really was so bad that it was good. Half the time I had no idea if I was laughing because I thought it was funny or because it was just plain bad and I had enough of it but I seem to have enjoyed it.

La Notte(1961): It's little too early to comment properly on it as I saw it less 2 hours ago and there is a lot to contemplate. Most important thing I need to think about is what makes it a part of trilogy with L'avventura(1960) and L'eclisse(1962) which I haven't seen yet, as there aren't many common elements that jump out, maybe except theme of alienation and longing. But if there was one thing that I admired about it, it was it didn't seem to be in any hurry to reach to any conclusion and despite that kept me interested in it all the time. All the three leads gave beautifully restrained performances, even Antonini's direction was stand-out.

Total Count:27. 24 First Time Watches and 3 Re-watches.

2012 YTD Count

Total Count:154. 146 First Time Watches and 8 Re-watches.

Usual division of this month comes out to be 12 classics and 15 new. 8 Foreign, 18 English and 1 Hindi. Considering how hectic this month was personally, especially first 15 days, I am actually surprised that I saw more movies this month than last two and it has been very peculiar too in a sense that I finally saw many movies that have been in my watchlist for a long time. Some of them turned out to be better than I expected(The Double Life of Veronique(1991) and Judgement at Nuremberg(1961)) whereas others left me tad disappointed(Last Year at Marienbad(1961) and Breathless(1960)) but that's always part of trade. 

I was actually planning to see quite a few of 60s foreign movies this month but I ended up watching only 6. I am going to continue it in the next month as I have got hold of quite a few by now and if Netflix didn't expire 5 movies off my queue by 1st July, I would have seen them this month itself. It also brought my foreign movie numbers down as I wanted to compensate for 3 foreign movies last month but it wasn't to be. I am also going to try and watch few 2012 movies this month as I have seen only like 4 till now and half of the year is already gone. Hopefully, there will be couple of trips to theater as well, one is already booked(The Dark Knight Rises(2012) off course) and second one looks pretty set too(The Amazing Spider-Man(2012)).

So, how was your month ? Did you see anything interesting ? What do you think of the movies I saw ? Any favorites ?

Election

When Alexander Payne released his The Descendants(2011) last December, there was a lot of buzz around him finally getting a movie made 7 years after Sideways(2004). I understand the excitement and all, especially because a notable director coming back from long hiatus, but I just couldn't get on bandwagon only since I had never seen an Alexander Payne movie by then. Even this year, similar scenario occurred for Moonrise Kingdom(2012) - Oh Yeah, Just kill me already !! I have never seen a Wes Anderson movie and even though based on the trailer alone, I still think it is a nice premise and from the early buzz, it might be worth checking out which I am sure I will eventually, but the point is I did not feel the heat for it. Getting back to Alexander Payne - So, The Descendants was my first Payne and I loved it, I even put it in my Top 10 of the year and since then, I have been trying to see his movies whenever I can. I saw About Schmidt(2002) couple of months ago and thought it really was a heartfelt movie and loved seeing Jack Nicholson in little different role. I still haven't seen Sideways even though I own it - believe me it is one of the 3 incidents ever, other two being Dawn of the Dead(2004) which I finally saw last month after having it for over a year and Judgement at Nuremberg(1961) which I bought because I really wanted to see it for longest of times and still haven't seen for whatever reason but I promise I will see it this month.

So, the other day I saw Election(1999), another one of Alexander Payne movies and to tell you the truth, even though I enjoyed both The Descendants and About Schmidt, this definitely is his best yet !! I am almost sure that I am one of the last few unfortunate souls to watch it. So, I will not waste a lot of time and space giving the plot. But, if you are one of us - unfortunate souls, first of all, thanks for the company and second of all, I intend to discuss almost every aspect of the movie. So, move forward at your own risk. So, Written and Directed by Alexander Payne, just like the other two movies I have seen, if there is one aspect of the movie that does stand out in all three movies it's his writing. He definitely is a great director and I will get to that as well, but what makes Alexander Payne movies to stand out for me is his characters are always very authentic, very genuine. They always walk, talk, behave like normal people like us would and still somehow he makes them different. I might be stretching it out a little but for the fact that his writing always comes before his direction, I feel like comparing him to Billy Wilder - always a writer first. Look at the characters in Election. Now, look at Tracy Flick - she is our leading lady, so-called heroine we are suppose to root for but she isn't really a likable character, Jim McAllister is a real good teacher, even a decent fellow who also has a decent life off course until he tries to sleep with his best friend's divorced wife and tries to stop an ambitious student from taking over school just because he doesn't like her. And more importantly, I am sure that we have seen such characters in our own school life - an over-achiever, rather dumb but a popular guy who gets everything easily and a rebel without cause and they are pretty much exactly as they are portrayed here.

Based on Tom Perrota novel by same name, Election is a satirical comedy and is somehow supposed to reflect the contemporary state of politics as well. Now I won't get into Politics here. But, even if you take this allied association out of equation, you are still left with a story of how normally rational people can get on to the path of self destruction because of stupid grudges. Alexander Payne makes sure that each character gets his own arc properly. He takes his time to develop them, introduce them to us so that by the time they reach their eventual end, we not only enjoy this journey together but more often than not, agree to their destiny. Look at Paul Metzler here. He really isn't a bright guy, he definitely isn't Student President material. He is just a football player with a broken leg and a real nice heart, who loves his sister. He is really in this race because of only one reason - his teacher thinks Tracy is taking over the whole school and needs to be stopped and he is probably the only one who can stand any chance against her. All his characteristics are maintained throughout the movie, even when his own sister jumps in the ring against him, even in his prayers the night before election and even after he is taken down from the President's post in the end. Payne's characters are never under-developed nor do they take over all the time. Now for example take look at Tammy Metzler. This is a character which I think can be taken out from the film completely without doing a minimal damage to the whole story. But, not only is she added in the story to make it even more hilarious, she gets her own, complete arc - with Jennifer, she even gets a closure - and off course, she also has a sub-plot with her sexuality in question. Sid's character in The Descendants is another excellent example here.

Now let us talk about acting here as there are few amazing performances here !! Starting with Matthew Broderick. I haven't seen him in much except Ferris Bueller's Day off(1986) where also he gives a great performance. I have seen Glory(1989) but that was so long ago that I don't even remember half the actors in it. He does a great job here as Jim McAllister from his initial very affable, devoted teacher with a nice little family to someone who keeps on gathering dirt on his downward roll. And it is hilarious to see how he always convinces himself to think that he is doing the right thing, even right at the end. Chris Kline is perfect as Paul Metzler as slightly goofy but straight forward guy who gives Tracy a run for her money - he would have won if he voted for himself you know and so is Jessica Campbell in Tammy's role. However, pick of the cast has to be Reese Witherspoon as Tracy Flick. She was just PERFECT!! in every aspect of that role. Way she talks, way she walks, her flacial expressions, her body language - just everything about her was perfect. Will you believe me, if I said that I immediately put Walk the Line(2005) on just to see if she usually walks the way she does in Election or did she do that for the role ? It wouldn't be an over statement if I say that she actually lived that role. There is very little to laugh at this little Miss Perfect who gets up at 5 AM to bake cup-cakes to influence students on the day of Student Council elections but the way she does it, you got to !!

Of all the three Alexander Payne movies I have seen, this might be the most original, most subtle and most complete film. However, unfortunately out of his 3 nominations for Adapted Screenplay Oscar, this is the only Oscar he did not win. I have no idea why I waited for so long even though I have heard nothing but praise for this movie. However, I am certainly glad I can check this this hilarious movie off of my watchlist.

Rating(out of 5):