Continuing in our nearly year-long listing of the top five winery/vineyard/wine themed movies, we're up to the number two pick, a movie that was roundly trashed by critics and ignored by audiences when it came out eight years ago:
A Good Year
Why was the movie so despised? Perhaps critics and moviegoers were expecting more from Ridley Scott, director of such classics as Alien, Blade Runner, Thelma and Louise and Gladiator. Maybe they were getting tired of Russell Crowe, who by then had gained a reputation of being, for lack of a better term, a total asshole in real life. Whatever the reason, we find A Good Year to be a hugely entertaining, well acted, beautifully filmed, and quirky love story set on a picturesque (but of course) chateau in Burgundy.
Crowe stars as Max, a day trader in London who's coming off a major trading victory, adding to his already inflated ego and bank accounts. Soon after his latest victory, he learns of the passing of his uncle (played by Albert Finney, excellent as usual), who raised Max on his chateau in Burgundy. Through flashbacks, we see hints of the unusual relationship between Max and his uncle, and we also see traces of how Max became the brilliant, albeit totally self-centered, financial wizard he is now. He travels to the vineyard, with the sole purposes of fixing it up, appraising it, and selling it. This being a Hollywood romantic comedy (although Scott, being the auteur he is, a very unique romantic comedy), his initial plans are met with interference.
The interference comes in the form of two female characters, played by Abbie Cornish and the always easy on the eyes Marion Cotillard. Cornish plays Christie, mysterious woman who claims to be the daughter of Max's uncle, who's traveled from Napa to hopefully take over the chateau. Cotillard's Fanny Chanel is the owner of a local café who met Max when they were kids. There are several subplots involving the assessment of the vineyards and the chateau, and the quality of the wine itself (wine fans will get some belly laughs from these scenes).
What makes the film special are the eccentric characters, including Max, who despite his overbearing arrogance has some appealing and funny qualities (Crowe is perfect in the role), Finney in his flamboyantly gruff mode, Max's best friend and financial manager, as well as the larger than life vineyard manager and his wife. Australian actress Cornish and Cotillard, who have since become very familiar faces (and in Cotillard's case, Oscar winner), are believable as would-be romantic interests for Max (Max is initially skeptical of Christie's claim).
The shots of the vineyards are intimate and Scott puts you there on the Chateau, thanks to whimsical touches in the barrel room and the pool and tennis court. The film is not as cynical as Sideways, and not as sexually explicit and profane, so A Good Year works as perfectly as a "Virginia winery movie night" type of movie.
The music is also wonderful, keeping in the spirit of the slightly off-kilter charm of the movie (a combination of French pop songs, French covers of American pop songs, and Harry Nilsson tunes).
Trailer for A Good Year:
If you missed the Notebook's first three choices in the Top 5, click here.
Showing posts with label Wine movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wine movies. Show all posts
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Friday, March 7, 2014
Vino Movies: Take II
Time to put the bottle down for a few moments and put on our critics hats again. Last November we unveiled #5 in our list of Top Five Wine Movies. On to #4...
Notorious
As the case with selection #5, this is not a movie most people think of when they ponder great wine flicks. But since the action during one the most suspenseful moments in the film is set in a wine cellar, we had to include it. Long considered to be one of Hitchcock's greatest films, the 1946 Ingrid Bergman/Cary Grant post WWII set thriller has aged beautifully. We're not sure how one of the villain's 1934 bottles of wine would taste now, but in 2014 a slow-paced romantic thriller where the sexual tension is implied, not explicit, is most welcome.
Grant turns in a fairly uncharacteristic performance, but his humorless take on the American agent in charge of protecting the daughter of a Nazi sympathizer in Rio proved he was one of the finest actors of the classic era of Hollywood. If you're most familiar with Bergman in Casablanca, you will be surprised with her role as a wealthy, drunken, initially unappealing party girl. But with Grant in the picture, you know what will ultimately happen between these two. He may be stone-faced serious in this film, but he's still Cary Grant. Claude Rains plays the main villain of the piece, treading a fine line between despicable and somewhat sympathetic as his feelings for Bergman's Alicia are genuine.
The aforementioned wine cellar sequence makes this a great wine movie, although you don't see a bottle come out until 30 minutes into the story (Alicia's drink of choice is scotch and soda). Without giving too much away of the sequence, the wine bottle of interest contains something curious that is not exactly wine, and some have argued that it's the famous Hitchcock MacGuffin of the movie.
Notorious does not have the slick Hollywood gloss of Hitchcock's '50s classics, like Rear Window and Vertigo; being a product of RKO Studios, the Hollywood studio known more for its gritty film noirs than pure Hollywood color slickness, gives the film its edge. It is the quintessential Hitchcock thriller for a cold winter night. Pop a bottle of VAVINO (or Korbel), and enjoy.
Clip from Notorious:
And if you missed our #5 choice in our Top 5 Vino Movie list, click here for a recap.
Notorious
As the case with selection #5, this is not a movie most people think of when they ponder great wine flicks. But since the action during one the most suspenseful moments in the film is set in a wine cellar, we had to include it. Long considered to be one of Hitchcock's greatest films, the 1946 Ingrid Bergman/Cary Grant post WWII set thriller has aged beautifully. We're not sure how one of the villain's 1934 bottles of wine would taste now, but in 2014 a slow-paced romantic thriller where the sexual tension is implied, not explicit, is most welcome.
Grant turns in a fairly uncharacteristic performance, but his humorless take on the American agent in charge of protecting the daughter of a Nazi sympathizer in Rio proved he was one of the finest actors of the classic era of Hollywood. If you're most familiar with Bergman in Casablanca, you will be surprised with her role as a wealthy, drunken, initially unappealing party girl. But with Grant in the picture, you know what will ultimately happen between these two. He may be stone-faced serious in this film, but he's still Cary Grant. Claude Rains plays the main villain of the piece, treading a fine line between despicable and somewhat sympathetic as his feelings for Bergman's Alicia are genuine.
The aforementioned wine cellar sequence makes this a great wine movie, although you don't see a bottle come out until 30 minutes into the story (Alicia's drink of choice is scotch and soda). Without giving too much away of the sequence, the wine bottle of interest contains something curious that is not exactly wine, and some have argued that it's the famous Hitchcock MacGuffin of the movie.
Notorious does not have the slick Hollywood gloss of Hitchcock's '50s classics, like Rear Window and Vertigo; being a product of RKO Studios, the Hollywood studio known more for its gritty film noirs than pure Hollywood color slickness, gives the film its edge. It is the quintessential Hitchcock thriller for a cold winter night. Pop a bottle of VAVINO (or Korbel), and enjoy.
Clip from Notorious:
And if you missed our #5 choice in our Top 5 Vino Movie list, click here for a recap.
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