To use the only wine metaphor that will appear in this review (promise), Alexander Payne is maturing quite nicely. While all around, directors good and bad employ flash stylisation, comic-book morality or sensationalist plot structure, Payne continues to mine a quieter, deeper, richer source of material: real people, real struggles. And each time he draws a little more truth from the situations he creates.
After the overlooked Citizen Ruth, the delicious Election and the gentle About Schmidt, in shuffles Sideways. And it's arguably the best work to date from a writer/director who consistently reminds you how compelling film can be when it avoids the obvious.
In other hands, the tale of the neurotic Miles (Paul Giamatti) and hedonistic Jack (Thomas Haden Church) going off together for a week-long bachelor party in California wine country could easily have been The Odd Couple Take A Road Trip. Wine, women, personality clashes and comic mishaps all wrapped up in an (anti-) climactic wedding/happy ending. Instead we're treated to a funny, sad, moving film for grown-ups. You know, like the ones they used to make back in the '70s when American cinema was more interested in emotion than explosions. It's an era Payne unashamedly aspires to: in Sideways, the soundtrack, settings, naturalistic lighting, even the split-screen montage, all evoke classics gone by. The ghosts of Five Easy Pieces, California Split and Harry And Tonto hover just out of frame. Better still, the film rewards repeat viewing on the small screen, the intimacy and arch humour perfectly suited to front-room viewing.
All the performances are excellent. Unless of course, you're a member of the Academy: Giamatti's non-Oscar-nomination is a Lord Lucan-size mystery, and Virginia Madsen's loss is nothing short of scandalous.
The scene where she and Giamatti gab over the qualities of the Pinot Noir grape - exposing their mutual need - is a mini-masterclass in shaded, soul-revealing writing and understated performance. And there's a moment of pure cinematic bliss when Madsen's face gently reveals a woman who's contemplating falling in love. It's the defining beat of a picture that's both hilarious and humane.
DVD Extras:
Payne offers a note of apology for the "meagre offerings" on display in the deleted scenes section. Which is fair enough. There's little of interest save some physical comedy from Giamatti after he runs over a dog. The brief "behind the scenes" documentary, which is pretty much just a set of clips interspersed with numerous soundbites from cast and director, is also rather underwhelming.Most disappointingly, there's no commentary from Payne and co-writer Jim Taylor. Fortunately, the Giamatti and Haden Church double-act redeems the disc. Their distractingly amusing voiceover is a ball. Even apart from a raft of insights into the shoot and a couple of cute anecdotes, the banterful pair share a healthy reluctance to take anything, including themselves, too seriously. The actors riff on everything from respective belly-size to debates on whether Church is handsome or not (he is, apparently, "in a craggy sort of way"). Various bit-players and local extras are approved as "comely lasses", but the highlight is a discussion of Giamatti's man breasts. Their epithet of choice? "Man cans".
