Artykuł pochodzi z pisma "Guardian"


Sideways

Cert 15

Peter Bradshaw
Friday January 28, 2005
The Guardian


New classics of American cinema don't come along that often, so grab this one with both hands. It's an occasion for the singing of hosannas from the roof of every cinema. Director Alexander Payne has already given us two gems with Election and About Schmidt. This glorious, bittersweet comedy of male friendship and midlife crisis is even better. It's something to be compared with John Cassavetes or Hal Ashby or Woody Allen's Annie Hall; a particular kind of freewheeling film-making that hasn't surfaced for decades.
Sideways is beautifully written, terrifically acted; it is paced and constructed with such understated mastery that it is a sort of miracle. The observations are pitilessly exact and meshed with impeccably executed sight gags and funny lines, and everything is bathed in the solvent of exquisite sadness. Yet its gentleness and humanity do not preclude a mule-kick of emotional power. Audiences at the screenings where I have been present may have heard something like a fusillade of gunshots from the auditorium; it was the sound of my heart breaking into a thousand pieces.
Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church give the performances of their lives, complemented by two outstanding female leads: Sandra Oh and Virginia Madsen. Giamatti is Miles, the divorced English teacher and would-be novelist well into his 40s, who is staring failure full in the face. Church plays his buddy and old college roommate Jack: a handsome-ish actor and incorrigible "pussyhound" whose career washed up after a couple of TV shows 10 years before.
With many a suppressed bachelor's misgiving, he is about to get married, and acquire some rich Armenian-American in-laws who want him to leave showbusiness and come in with them in their fabulously lucrative property business. Jack is still in the process of kidding himself that he can do that and still keep the door open to getting back into movies. For his part, Miles is kidding himself that his ex-wife might still want to make another go of it.
The pair of them, deep in denial about the way their lives are turning out, go on a road trip. It is Miles's "wedding gift" to Jack: he will take him on a tour of the Californian wine country, and teach him about the passion for wine that has taken over his life. Secretly, he is hoping for a little male bonding to salve his wretched loneliness. But all Jack is hoping for is some bedroom action with local women before he has to tie the knot - and Miles cloaks his desolate feelings of betrayal with righteous disgust. All he can do to manage his despair is concentrate on the new love of his life: wine.
Jonathan Nossiter's documentary Mondovino was recently much praised for its insights into the globo-Californian wine business; but for me, Sideways says more on the subject in five minutes than Nossiter managed in two hours. Miles loves pontificating at tastings, and comes up with the most uproarious wine-snobbisms since James Thurber's famous line: "It's a naive domestic burgundy, but I think you'll be amused by its presumption." Miles fastidiously sips a Cabernet and pronounces it: "Quaffable but far from transcendent." To Jack's bemusement, he rolls another vintage around his palate and claims to detect hints of strawberry, asparagus, and Dutch Edam. "The strawberries ... yeah ... " agrees Jack, having earnestly tasted it himself, " ... but not the cheese." Miles identifies with Pinot grape because it's delicate and sensitive like him, but it's only when he meets beautiful, divorced Maya - an excellent performance from Virginia Madsen - that he finds a kindred wine-loving spirit and someone who might redeem his sorry life.
Some of the brilliance of Payne's film is that he presents Miles's passion for wine with no obvious signposting as to what we should think about it, and lets an awful thought dawn unassisted. Miles's oenophilia might simply be a very elaborate way of dressing up the banal problem of alcoholism. Two banal problems, if you count incipient depression. Miles has created a complete and complex culture in which his drinking can be made to seem like something with status. And now that his buddy is getting married and leaving him alone in his wretched world of singledom, he somehow needs Jack's benediction and understanding of his new monkish vocation for drinking away what remains of his life.
Yet it is a measure of the humanity and sympathy of this film that this explanation would not be entirely fair. Poor, battered Miles - devastated by the failure of his marriage and the rejection of his novel - has at least found a genuine passion. There is an extraordinary moment when, stunned by the news that his ex-wife has in fact remarried, Miles can find comfort only in stroking grapes: a bizarre image that Payne somehow makes sad and irresistibly funny at once.
The sadness is balanced with wonderfully observed comedy as Jack embarks on a crazy affair with Stephanie (Sandra Oh), a pourer from one of the wineries, and finally has a one-night stand with a diner waitress whose husband makes an unwelcome appearance. The upshot is a scene of hilarious, nail-biting tension.
Alexander Payne has raised his game very satisfyingly with this film, taking his familiar preoccupation with male menopausal angst and giving it a new gentleness, richness and maturity. Sideways now has five Oscar nominations: including one for best picture. It is light years ahead of the preening, pumped-up competitors in this category (The Aviator, Finding Neverland, Million Dollar Baby and Ray). We can only hope.


acquire - otrzymać
act- grać
angst- obawa, niepokój
asparagus - szparagi
bachelor - kawaler
battered- w złym stanie
bemusement- konsternacja
benediction- błogosławieństwo
bittersweet - słodko-gorzki
bizarre- groteskowy, dziwaczny
bond - więź
buddy - kumpel
complex - złożony, skomplikowany
denial - zaprzeczenie
desolate- samotny, opuszczony
detect - wykrywać, wyczuwać
devastated- niepocieszony, zmartwiony
earnestly- poważnie
elaborate - wyszukany, starannie opracowany
embark on- brać udział w, rozpoczynać
exquisite- wyśmienity, świetny, wspaniały
fabulously- bajecznie, fantastycznie
fastidiously- drobiazgowo; wybrednie
freewheel- jazda bez silnika
fusillade- strzelanina; lawina (pocisków)
gem- perła, klejnot
genuine- prawdziwy, autentyczny
glorious- przepiękny, wspaniały
hilarious- radosny, wesoły
hint - tu: nuta (aromatu, smaku)
impeccably - nieskazitelnie, bez skazy
incipient- początkowy, zaczynający się
incorrigible- niepoprawny
insight - wgląd, pojęcie (o czymś)
irresistibly- nie do odparcia, w narzucający się sposób
kindred spirit- bratnia dusza
lead- główna rola
lucrative- lukratywny, zyskowny
mastery- mistrzostwo
mesh- zazębiać się, sczepiać się
midlife crisis - kryzys wieku średniego
misgiving- wątpliwość, obawa
monkish- mnisi
nail-biting- trzymający w niepewności, w napięciu
oenophilia- miłość do wina
outstanding- wybitny, znakomity
pace - tempo, krok; kroczyć
palate - podniebienie
passion - pasja, namiętność
pitilessly- bezlitośnie
pontificate- wypowiadać się autorytatywnie
pourer- osoba nalewająca (wino)
preclude- uniemożliwiać, nie dopuszczać, wykluczać
preen- muskać piórka, stroić się
presumption- przypuszczenie, mniemanie
pumped-up- nadmierny, przesadny
pussyhound- pies na baby, pot.
quaffable- nadające się do wypicia; quaff- pić wielkimi łykami; wypic jednym haustem
redeem - uratować
rejection- odrzucenie
salve- ocalać
signpost- znak drogowy
singledom - życie w pojedynkę, stan bycia “singlem”
sip - sączyć
solvent- rozpuszczalnik
stroke- głaskać
stunned- zawiany, zalany, pijany
suppress- tłumić, zduszać, powstrzymywać
take over- przejąć
tension- napięcie
terrifically- świetnie, znakomicie
understate- umniejszać, pomniejszać
uproarious- hałaśliwy, huczny
vintage - wino z dobrego rocznika
vocation- powołanie
wash up - rozmywać się
winery- winiarnia
wretched- nieszczęsny, nędzny


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