Review 284: Sideways
Based on the novel Sideways by Rex Pickett, Miles Raymond (Paul Giamatti) and Jack Cole (Thomas Haden Church), two old friends setting off on a wine-tasting road trip...only to veer dizzily sideways into a wry, comedic exploration of the crazy vicissitudes of love and friendship, the damnable persistence of loneliness and dreams and the enduring war between Pinot and Cabernet.
The plot is bitter sweet and the characters are so well realised. It is, essentially a sideways look at life.
The way it's a sideways look at life is because Miles and Jack have their own perspectives on life: Miles is alcoholic, depressive and is struggling to come to terms with his divorce and Jack is a playboy who wants to have one last set of flings before getting married.
Not only that, it's also a story about friendship, love and loneliness and life in general.
How these themes play a vital role in Sideways, well lets talk about them.
Friendship: The majority of the film revolves around the relationship between Miles and Jack which is really moving because it's about two different people with different perspectives on life and they have they're own ways of dealing with it and thats a true and very realistic depiction of friendship.
Love: As Miles and Jack go on their road trip, they meet two girls: A waitress named Maya (Virginia Madsen) and her friend Stephanie (Sandra Oh) and they develop mature relationships for each other and I think this film shows how important relationships are in real life.
Loneliness: Miles, despite having Jack at his side, feels lonely and longs for a relationship with a girl and hopes to find one when he meets Maya.
Life: Sideways for me is a very realistic and moving portrayal of life as a whole and how important it is to have relationships/people around you to support you.
Writer/director Alexander Payne's direction is excellent, the cinematography is brilliant, the locations are beautiful, the scenery is breathtaking, the score by Rolfe Kent is quirky, cheeky and lovely, the costumes are terrific, the production design is terrific, it's nicely paced, it's tremendously funny (theres a scene in the film were Jack and Miles try to crash they're car into a tree to make it look like an accident and they fail miserably which hysterical) and the ending was superb.
The acting is wonderful, Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, Virginia Madsen and Sandra Oh are fabulous in their roles. Giamatti and Church, in particular, have great chemistry together and as the story unfolds we find out they have their own problems and it's fascinating to see them deal with their problems in different ways.
Also the rest of the cast is terrific.
Sideways is a "Sideways" look at life and an example of how talented a filmmaker Alexander Payne is.
Please comment and subscribe, 5/5.
The Anonymous Critic.
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