IF ONLY WALLS COULD SPEAK - Blancpain

DEWAYS
As it recounts a several day vacation,
harsher wags might substitute the
word “debauch” for “vacation”, in California’s
Southern Coastal wine country, the
principle protagonist of the film, a nebbish
oeneophile, spouts opinions on wines,
waxing lyrical on the fragility, caprice, delicacy
and virtues of pinot noir, and sourly
denouncing merlot shouting “if anyone
orders merlot… I’m leaving!”. Result: Sales
of pinot noir have risen more than 34% and
sales of merlot have plummeted.
34 | 35
ONE OF THE FILM SUCCESS STORIES OF THE PAST YEAR WAS
“SIDEWAYS”. WIDELY ACCLAIMED, IT WAS NOMINATED FOR THE
OSCAR BEST FILM OF THE YEAR, WHICH IT DID NOT WIN, AND
WAS NOMINATED FOR THE OSCAR BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
FOR THE PERFORMANCE OF THOMAS HAYDEN CHURCH WHICH
IT DID WIN. SUCH WAS THE NOTORIETY OF SIDEWAYS
THAT IT HAS HAD A PROFOUND INFLUENCE OUTSIDE OF
ITS ENTERTAINMENT DOMAIN.
6057-3642-53B
The story is what
is not seen. Note
a complete absence
of correctors on the
side and the resulting
purity of line
BY JEFFREY S. KINGSTON
Although it seems the film has achieved
enormous commercial success and even
turned the wine markets topsey turvey, no
one can explain the title. Just what does
“Sideways” mean? Is it a slang description
for people who drink too much? The two
principle characters in the film, both losers,
consume far too much wine. Is it a reference
to the way bottles are stored? No one
knows. The film is accepted for what it is
and evidently for what it says about wine,
mysterious title and all.