Sideways: Entre Umas e Outras

Sad, disillusioned and depressed middle school teacher/aspiring novelist Paul Giamatti takes his best friend (Thomas Haden Church) to California's wine country for one last week of freedom before he marries. Church is on the prowl though and extremely horny as he wants nothing more than to sleep with women before his wedding. Thus these two opposites (who are more alike than they appear on first glance) have all sorts of adventures and misadventures. They meet two women (Virginia Madsen and Sandra Oh) and immediately take an interest in them. Divorcée Giamatti is shyly attracted to Madsen while Church falls in lust real quick with Oh. What is going to transpire over this week? Outstanding direction by Alexander Payne (who is one of the better "new-age" film-makers) knows which comedic and dramatic buttons to push here. His screenplay (which he co-wrote with cohort Jim Taylor) is deeper than it appears on the surface. Just like "Election" and "About Schmidt", "Sideways" works because the characters are quirky and hilarious, but also vulnerable and real. The four leads are remarkable with Church stealing the show and Madsen doing the work of her life. Giamatti's quiet and heartfelt role makes you sympathize and care for this flawed man. An intelligent adult-themed comedy/drama that works from many angles. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

I had known of Sideways for a long time now. Being the huge film fan that I am, I remember always seeing it get mentioned in many message boards, or websites, or critics' best-of-the-decade lists. It wasn't until now that I saw it, and the reason is because I recently saw Payne's new film The Descendants and I fell in love with it. It wasn't just his simple writing, but his direction, the feel that he gave it. Sideways was another gem, and an even better one.

This could be called a dramedy in many ways, a comedy/drama. There are many films these days getting released that could be labeled in those two genres, and yet Sideways makes it look easier than The Descendants even. What we have here is a brilliant script all around, fully fleshing out these characters. And the investment I had with Giamatti... enormous. I was on this ride with him, I felt his pain, his anger, his awkwardness when confronted with aggravating or tense situations. I found myself telling him things on the screen, and even staying at the edge of my seat in a funny situation he is put in by his friend near the end. Whereas The Descendants lived on it's script through a lot of quiet moments, Sideways blends in simple, subtle moments with really incredible dialogue. The dialogue between the two was the main difference, and yet Sideways is very much of the feeling one is put in.

I want to say the ensemble cast is fantastic. Church really made me question just how much of a friend he was, and yet still made him completely sympathetic and be able to be understood. As for Virginia Madsen... I felt like I was also falling for her like the lead. Some of her scenes, especially the conversations between her and Giammatti, she plays incredibly. She makes you feel the likability of her character, and yet also feel the sensuality and the vulnerability that she is pushing through with her shared desire. She was fantastic. Giamatti is fantastic as the disappointing lead, and although he always seems to play these sort of characters, he knows what to do to make them completely work.

Overall, extremely satisfied with this, and still here is the unique touch of real feeling for the characters that I witnessed in the Descendants. How could I not love this? Payne's film pushes through the screen what can only be described as an incredibly real connection, a connection that I honestly don't witness very often with comedies.

A woman's take on this is probably not the same as a man's. Initially I was put off by Charles Hayden's Church's character crudeness and Giamatti's character's repulsiveness but that changed was I was able to look below the surface. By the end of the movie, I felt very sorry for Church as he was not only dumb and shallow, he was actually so empty that whatever female was before him became a mirror of his need to connect with anything that felt like caring. Church did a fabulous job and was incredibly believable as a has-been wannabe, desperate to hold on to his dream of the kind of good life that is bought by charm and good looks. He is just on the edge or realizing his time is running out and that is a whole lot for this character to absorb as he has never given much to the concept of "thought."

Giammeti is a pitiful, self-absorbed, destructive, depressed alcoholic whose in possession of two "things." He knows a great deal about wine and he has written a book. Nothing else informs him. Yet his performance is so nuanced that we are able to fill in his depth of character and decency primarily through his huge, limpid eyes. What a performance. He should have been nominated for an academy award. This is a role that comes along once-in-a-lifetime for this type of character actor, like Liza in Cabaret.

The women are really nothing more than backdrops or props for the men to expose themselves. Madsen is lovely but you do wonder what on earth she really sees in this man. While he may be redeemable, he is really pretty much a self-absorbed jerk. It is most interesting that this film has been released at the same time as Closer, as they are similar in their exploration of self-absorption. Though Closer explores how destructive its characters are to each other, in the end, Closer is not as intimate and seems more artificial than the sweetly revealing Sideways.

... but aren't we all, regardless of our wine variety and tastes. Middle aged men make merry and melancholy in a film that makes you smile and yearn to go wine tasting in California.

What a refreshing adventure great writing really is. Through the mind, heart and soul of a filmmaker like Alexander Payne you can enter forbidden territory and dive into experiences that, at first glance, seem so far removed from our own. Little tales with enormous, universal implications. Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church and Virginia Madsen jump out of the screen and as soon as the movie ends we find them sitting next to us. We get home and find them waiting for us there, we even find them on the mirror looking back at us. This is the sort of movie going experience that will never get old. Its strength is in its truth. You may not like it, you may even resent it. Good, that's what art is all about. It provokes you. It motivates and inspires you. And as if all that wasn't enough, it entertains you it amuses you, it gives you one hell of a great time. I want another Payne soon in a theater near me.