"Sideways" is a film about wine.
That's the simplistic answer. But in truth, Sideways is a film in which wine serves as one of its many metaphors. It is in fact about the ageing process in life, how we mature and grow, how we decline, and the decisions we make. This film marks a fantastic achievement by director/writer Alexander Payne (who also did the brilliant "About Schmidt"). Payne also penned the script, which is one of the cleverest scripts ever written, and deservedly won "Best Adapted Screenplay" Oscar for this film. "Sideways" seems simplistic in its approach, but its the subtle brilliance in its script and direction that makes this film great.
It starts off with a brilliant opening of Miles (Paul Giammati) who is awoken by builders that want him to move his car. Miles stumbles to the door, hungover from the night before, and moves his car. Miles is a wine connosier who went to a tasting the night before, but wakes up late for a meeting in Los Angeles. He "hurries" through his morning routine and drives slowly on the freeway in order to do the crossword puzzle: the others cars pass him by, but he just continues at his own slow pace. We can take this to be a metaphor that Miles is just cruising through life, not really going anywhere, whilst the rest of the world is passing him by.
"Sideways" is full of metaphors of this nature, subtle meanings and themes, that it feels sometimes like its too much to keep track of. But never does the director manipulate the viewer, and it all just seems so natural - and thats where this film succeeds. The beauty is in its simplicity and subtlety.
Miles is on his way to pick up Jack (Thomas Hayden Church) to take him away for week before his wedding on Saturday. A sort of "bachelor party", per se. They travel up California wine-country to take in the sights and scenery, and good wines that the region has to offer. Jack is an actor who specialises in smaller gigs and commercials. These guys are both characters that have basically failed to live up to their true expectations: Jack is a low-end commercial actor, and Miles is an unpublished author who teaches English to middle school students.They see this trip as one last chance to get crazy, cut loose, and with middle-age approachign, they seek to recapture some of the youth that seems to have just vanished from their eyes. They meet two women, Stephanie (Sandra Oh) and Mia (Virginia Madsen) who join them on their adventures. Jack has no problem connecting with Stephanie, but Miles, who is a depressed, insecure and lonely person, struggles to reciprocate mutual feelings towards Ma. He still hasn't gotten over his ex-wife, and the depression of rejection is really taking its toll.
I won't give away the plot here as you really have to see this picture yourself to fully understand the range of emotions and meaning, but it really is an equiste picture. The acting in this film is outstanding. Sandrah Oh and Virginia Madsen are great in their roles, but it is really the onscreen chemistry of Giammati and Hayden Church that makes this picture. Their characters' were college roommates (one can already imagine a scenario where Jack's character wants to go out to town in the evening, only to be rejected by Miles who wants to study for Monday's test), but their relationship now seems to have soured a little bit. It's probably just age, but they do their best to take comfort in each other. Hayden Church gives a brilliant comedic portrayal of the outgoing, womanizing Jack, but Giammati gives the best performance in this film. He is so convincing in his role and totally loses himself in this emotion-filled character. We feel his pain: every look in his eye, every expression on his face is portrayed with such precision and nuance. Madsen, Oh and Church all got deserved Oscar nominations, but that just doesn't seem fair when you consider Giammati didn't get any. He gives us a truly original, sometimes annoying, but real character in a career-defining performance. There is one scene in particular, where he is on the porch talking with Virginia Madsen's character about wine, where the acting is just truly breathtaking (by both actors).
"Sideways" is a film that has everything: great acting, directing, interesting editing (particulary when we follow Miles and Jack on their first wine tour), and a wonderful soundtrack. But it is the script and Giammati's performance that makes this film a masterpiece. There is so much visual imagery and meaning in this picture that what we are seeing is basically poetry, a poem about life, where everything has meaning. Its up to us to decipher what it may mean.
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