Have you ever been enjoying a wonderful bottle of wine and then a fellow dinner guest says it's "a bit tart", or "a bit heavy", or "it tastes like vinegar"?
I think wine is like art in that, for most people, it comes down to individual preference. What one person thinks is "to die for" and "worth every cent", the next would only use for tenderizing meat.
This seems to happen in a lot in the art world. The "work of genius" you love and admire might make someone else wonder if you've lost your marbles.
A while ago Bridget and I attended an early screening of Bottleshock, a movie about the 1976 blind tasting of American and French wines known as the "Judgment of Paris" that changed the industry. The movie is just as much a work of art as great wines are.
In my opinion there were only a couple of notable features. I love the Napa Valley and found the art direction of the filming quite outstanding. Then there was Rachael Taylor whose artful looks just added to the stunning landscape.
It seems de rigueur for feature films about wine to be excessively sentimental, Bottleshock included. The prize, however, goes to Keanu Reeves and the movie A Walk in the Clouds.
The "boxing" scenes in Bottleshock are so repulsive it made me want to vomit. And the scene where the wine is loaded onto the flight to France made me think that air travelers must have been a million times more friendly back then!
But there were some good points too. One highlight was Alan Rickman who plays the part of Steven Spurrier in the film and made a very impressive wine snob. I also thought the movie perfectly portrayed people who are fervent about winemaking and have a passion for the industry.
The general feeling I took from the film, however, was that the acting was stiffer than a wooden post. In fact, there was probably more wood in the acting than you'd find in a wine barrel! And schmaltz reined supreme in some parts. To use wine snob jargon, Bottleshock was flaccid, flowery and lacking in structure.
That's just my opinion though. My friend Michael, who doesn't work with wine but is an avid drinker of it, phoned me up to say that he was ENCHANTED by Bottleshock. In fact, he said it was one of the best films he's ever seen. His 18 year old son thought it was great too!
It's clear we have distinctly different perspectives on this film so I'll leave you to decide. It's different from Sideways in that it's not as pessimistic or full of testosterone fueled, boyish wine behavior. Bottleshock doesn't kill the market for Merlot either! So, would you rate it a show stopper or a spittoon receptacle?
By the way, fifteen minutes was more than enough for Mike's wife and her best friend who both left well before the film ended!
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