I think the thing I liked so much about "Sideways" was how all of this relatively light-hearted farce was mapped over some incredibly heart-wrenching events (THC's total fear of commitment and its attendant fallout; PG's incredibly deluded lovesickness). The final confrontation between PG and his ex is super harsh and (I thought) awesomely staged and acted.
― HI DERE, Thursday, 7 February 2008 16:14 (sixteen years ago) link
Yeah, I thought it was a lot less forgiving on its leads than my mum did. Add Giamatti's borderline alcoholism to the stuff Dan said.
― chap, Thursday, 7 February 2008 16:16 (sixteen years ago) link
'forgiving TO its leads'
― chap, Thursday, 7 February 2008 16:17 (sixteen years ago) link
I love the freeze on Tracey's face just before Broderick launches into a load of exposition about her. Her facial expression is genius.
Anyone who's read the novel: is it written in the various character's voices ala the movie's multiple VOs, or was that Payne's idea?
-- chap, Thursday, February 7, 2008 4:06 PM (45 minutes ago) Bookmark Link
he didn't tell her about the freeze frame when they shot the scene haha. i think he came up with it in the editing room.
― s1ocki, Thursday, 7 February 2008 16:53 (sixteen years ago) link
I saw this doc on editing which had an interview w/Payne and he admitted that when cutting Election he was influenced by The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly in terms of freezing on close-ups and such.
― C. Grisso/McCain, Thursday, 7 February 2008 16:55 (sixteen years ago) link
the weird screaming native american music cue whenever tracey gets angry is my favorite movie music since the yodelling in raising arizona
-- n/a, Thursday, February 7, 2008 11:01 AM (54 minutes ago) Bookmark Link
this is morricone's theme from navajo joe!! it was in kill bill too
― and what, Thursday, 7 February 2008 16:57 (sixteen years ago) link
http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/4362/vmsy400sx600bt5.jpg
― Pleasant Plains, Thursday, 7 February 2008 17:10 (sixteen years ago) link
totally didnt notice the fuck thing hahahah
― s1ocki, Thursday, 7 February 2008 17:10 (sixteen years ago) link
I'd like to point out that this is the only film I can think of where product placement is actually rather cleverly and naturally integrated into the storyline and the characters, and is done in such a way that it explicitly equates one of the products (Pepsi - he throws a PEPSI at the car not a coke!) with being a loser
― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 7 February 2008 17:16 (sixteen years ago) link
I seem to remember Perrotta switching first-person narrators by chapter too. (The Klein jock is not a moron in the book, either)
― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 7 February 2008 17:18 (sixteen years ago) link
"Looks like you could use a CUPCAKE!"
― kenan, Thursday, 7 February 2008 17:19 (sixteen years ago) link
For 12 seconds I thought Chris Klein was cute.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 7 February 2008 17:20 (sixteen years ago) link
this thread is making me regret throwing out my VHS copy of this movie
― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 7 February 2008 17:20 (sixteen years ago) link
Reese is cute, for someone who looks a human bulldog.
― Pleasant Plains, Thursday, 7 February 2008 17:21 (sixteen years ago) link
xp: C Klein is way cuter than the guy Katie Holmes left him for
― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 7 February 2008 17:23 (sixteen years ago) link
yeah, but he was such an SP.
― Alex in Baltimore, Thursday, 7 February 2008 17:30 (sixteen years ago) link
when david brooks or somebody wrote a column last year about whatever happened to middlebrow culture, sideways was the first thing i thought of. it's ironic middlebrow, but it's still sort of proudly middlebrow. which i think is fine, middlebrow culture deserves some respect. but i think that's payne's whole orientation.
-- tipsy mothra, Thursday, 7 February 2008 08:06 (10 hours ago) Link
lol what ISN'T middlebrow these days? oscar voters and film comment finding middle ground on 'no country' and 'milkshake' == middlebrows have won.
which is fine but what does this guy even mean by 'what happened to it?'?
― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Thursday, 7 February 2008 18:56 (sixteen years ago) link
what is high brow these days?
― latebloomer, Thursday, 7 February 2008 19:11 (sixteen years ago) link
David Lynch
― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 7 February 2008 19:15 (sixteen years ago) link
highbrow is furriners whose unseen movies leave PT Anderson in the dust (Jia, Weerasethakul, Hong, Tsai etc)
― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 7 February 2008 19:24 (sixteen years ago) link
yep. figured as much.
― latebloomer, Thursday, 7 February 2008 19:28 (sixteen years ago) link
I thought you hated Jia, Morbs.
I love all those dudes, but I'm really not interested in claiming them as "highbrow".
― C0L1N B..., Thursday, 7 February 2008 20:05 (sixteen years ago) link
betcha you can't name three living 'highbrow' filmmakers working in the US
― remy bean, Thursday, 7 February 2008 20:07 (sixteen years ago) link
1. Brett Ratner 2. Uwe Boll 3. Keenan Ivory Wayans
― HI DERE, Thursday, 7 February 2008 20:08 (sixteen years ago) link
Who gives a shit?
x-p
― C0L1N B..., Thursday, 7 February 2008 20:08 (sixteen years ago) link
ahhh, Little Man
― latebloomer, Thursday, 7 February 2008 20:09 (sixteen years ago) link
x-post
4. Paul Haggis
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 7 February 2008 20:09 (sixteen years ago) link
(i'm totally kidding, i think the whole highbrow/middlebrow/lowbrow distinction is wicked retarded)
― remy bean, Thursday, 7 February 2008 20:10 (sixteen years ago) link
^
― latebloomer, Thursday, 7 February 2008 20:10 (sixteen years ago) link
no, the only Jia film I've found wanting was The World.
Yeah, Fools Gold or Passio. all the same. FART
― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 7 February 2008 20:13 (sixteen years ago) link
ps. i really liked sideways and schmidt and ruth and election, and i think that together they make up a neat little canon of very american films about this country, in the present tense. they are praised out of proportion, sure, and sometimes for the wrong reasons ('touching'! 'incisive'!) but they make great use of low-key ironic/comic detachment to tell vaguely realistic stories, while avoiding the So Serious kitchen-sink realism that is the usual provenance of 'highbrow' stories
― remy bean, Thursday, 7 February 2008 20:15 (sixteen years ago) link
for the record, i don't think any of them are brilliant. but all of them are entertaining, humane, and unique little trifles
― remy bean, Thursday, 7 February 2008 20:17 (sixteen years ago) link
^^^ yes
after election i was kinda disappointed by sideways but really the only thing payne did that i hated was jurassic park 3
― and what, Thursday, 7 February 2008 20:17 (sixteen years ago) link
though i think election actually is brilliant and the rest are entertaining humane and unique trifles
― and what, Thursday, 7 February 2008 20:18 (sixteen years ago) link
I never saw Passio, but it seems like burning the negative after screening your movie in a couple of churches is a pretty easy way to pass for highbrow.
― C0L1N B..., Thursday, 7 February 2008 20:19 (sixteen years ago) link
or just good PR.
So Serious kitchen-sink realism sounds "middlebrow" to me.
The contempt for the characters is what made About Schmidt unbearable to me. A friend who liked it said, Well yeah, fuckin' Middle American assholes, hooray for honesty.
― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 7 February 2008 20:20 (sixteen years ago) link
it might be a matter of parsing: i read payne's portrayal of silly Middle Americans as self-inclusive and knowing, not contemptuous and condescending. there are pretty pervasive thematic resonances of redemption and transcendence running through most of his characters: they are broken and battered and weird, but at heart still good, solid, hopeful people.
yesterday i listened to tony gilroy on 'the treatment.' he talked very poignantly about about how the true meat of the american story is in the phrase 'a few minutes too late' –- a conceit i think payne knows and employs very very well.
― remy bean, Thursday, 7 February 2008 20:29 (sixteen years ago) link
they are broken and battered and weird, but at heart still good, solid, hopeful people.
Isn't this patronizing? I don't want Schmidt redeemed -- he's a shit.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 7 February 2008 20:30 (sixteen years ago) link
as usual people who accuse directors of hating their characters are projecting because they hate the characters themselves
― and what, Thursday, 7 February 2008 20:31 (sixteen years ago) link
The contempt for the characters is what made About Schmidt unbearable to me.
yeah I couldn't bear this either
― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 7 February 2008 20:32 (sixteen years ago) link
i think kathy bates & dermot mulroney are gross caricatures that almost ruin the film but everybody else is nuanced + great
― and what, Thursday, 7 February 2008 20:33 (sixteen years ago) link
telling stories about people the author hates is as old as fiction ethan wtf
― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 7 February 2008 20:33 (sixteen years ago) link
that's kind of mean and off the mark, to my eyes
― remy bean, Thursday, 7 February 2008 20:34 (sixteen years ago) link
im not saying that no director has ever made a movie about characters they hated, just that i dont think alexander payne is that dude
― and what, Thursday, 7 February 2008 20:35 (sixteen years ago) link
look how excited he is to cast all these normal people - do you think he's laughing at the janitor in election or the waitress in about schmidt?
― and what, Thursday, 7 February 2008 20:36 (sixteen years ago) link
so what if he's a shit, alfred? the whole conceit of the movie is the redemption of a once-decent guy who's turned/been turned into an asshole by the unpleasant business of his life. why would you honestly begrudge his elevation at the end of the film? his return to humanity from asshole crotchetyhood?
and why would you suggest it is patronizing?
nobody has said you have to like the character: it's hard to do so, because he's such an ornery old grump, but he is relatable to an awful lot of people (n1) and that – surely – makes a better film than him sitting in the cold, alone, wallowing in self-pity at the end of the film.
(n1) i'd say 'most', but i'm anticipating a high-and-lofty response from somebody who 'can't' relate)
― remy bean, Thursday, 7 February 2008 20:45 (sixteen years ago) link
(please forgive my terribly quick writing, i am switching between two documents @ work)
― remy bean, Thursday, 7 February 2008 20:46 (sixteen years ago) link
It was perhaps once useful, but it's pretty much obsolescent nowadays.
― jaymc, Thursday, 7 February 2008 20:46 (sixteen years ago) link
how else could you rationalize watching all those 'quality' TV shows on DVD?
― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 7 February 2008 20:48 (sixteen years ago) link