Sideways: DVD Review
April 10, 2005
There is a scene a third of the way through “Sideways”, the instant classic from last year, which perfectly situates the audience to the films difficult central male relationship. On night two of their bachelor-esque Californian wine country tour, Jack (Thomas Haden Church) and Miles (Paul Giamatti) are about to enter a lovely restaurant to wine and dine two beautiful women, when Jack, the hound, turns to Miles, the depressive downer, and warns him, “I don’t want you passing out or going over to the Dark Side. No Dark Side Miles.” In stained compliance, Miles takes out a vile of Xanax and shakes it like a solitary maraca, as if to say ‘I’ll be alright, as long as my medication holds up.’ The scene is both funny, like most of the picture, darkly funny, and somewhat sad- these two guys, long time college friends now in the twilight of their middle years, loneliness, depression (hence the pills), and nothingness, can’t even enjoy a peaceful night out with two nubile waitresses without getting on each others nerves. It is the key to understanding Alexander Payne’s much-loved little masterpiece; that as Jack stares down a new marriage with endless infidelity, and Miles stares down a universally rejected novel, and another year of post-divorce depression, what should be a rock- their friendship- is an ever-tightening noose of pity and frustration. “It’s sad,” says Giamatti on the DVD commentary track at the end of the film, after all of the drinking, fighting, memories, and lies, “It’s kind of all over for these two.” We’d like to think that a married Jack, in a loving rich Armenian family, would still befriend our loveable/contemptible shlub Miles, but maybe we go along with Giamatti’s theory that down the line, the only use Jack may have for his friend is as a shoulder to cry on after his seemingly happy marriage dissolves at the feet of his womanizing. Payne leaves that, and Miles’ own relationship with his love interest, open to interpretation at the end, and like the general tone to “Sideways”, it’s a non-committal that’s oddly warm, yet overwhelmingly bittersweet.
Recently released on DVD, “Sideways”, in the few months since its release, has emerged as a perfect example of classical American storytelling and filmmaking with a European edge, like Billy Wilder’s wit meets Robert Altman’s camera through Michelangelo Antonioni’s pretentiousness and open spaces. The Academy, naturally, chose to ignore it in the major categories on Oscar night (Giamatti famously wasn’t even nominated), opting instead for the tougher, even more classically directed “Million Dollar Baby”, snubbing the much-deserved Church in lieu of a respectable Morgan Freeman, and Virginia Madsen’s star turn as the wine-loving divorcee Maya in favor of Cate Blanchett’s good but impersonal Katherine Hepburn in “The Aviator”. This was no surprise, just look how many times Altman has won an Oscar (0), but it was still a disappointing showing, save for Payne and Jim Taylor’s token Adapted Screenplay award, for a film that swept a good chunk of critics awards, and gets better, like, how obvious, a bottle of wine, with age, and repeat viewings. I can complain ‘til I’m blue about it, but you won’t hear any grumbling on Giamatti and Church’s hilarious, self-deprecating commentary track, just a brief mention eluding to Giamatti’s snub, and after that, it’s all business.
The actors discuss everything from women- particularly Madsen- to wine (Giamatti: “There’s a lot of trying to get corked bottles open in this movie”), to nude scenes, to Payne’s love for camera flaring in the beautiful California sun, and you get the feel that, even though they’ve probably seen the film a million times, they are just two fans watching a great picture they happened to be a part of. Fitting in with the tone of middle aged failure- one a has-been actor, the other an 8th grade English teacher and failing author- Church and Giamatti take every opportunity to rip on their slightly bulging waistlines and shlubby attire; half-hearted self-reflexivity that always sounds funnier coming from somebody else, than from yourself. Here are a few priceless tidbits: Church’s description of his bare torso: “Fertile crescent of middle-aged doughiness”, Giamatti on his image in bed: “Ah, there he is, every ladies dream”, Church on his behind in his nude scene: “Dueling pillow cases full of milk”, and Giamatti on the revelatory burger joint sequence where Miles, in stripped down wedding attire, finally cracks open his much cherished bottle of ’61 Cheval Blanc: “I look like I should be in ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ in that outfit.” In a film where TV screens blare Hitler, George W. Bush, “The Grind”, and Henry Fonda’s prophetic ‘Grapes of Wrath’ monologue, Church and Giamatti never make the bold connection obvious, but in retrospect, “Sideways” is all about awkward realism in human relationships, despite what may be flashing from a TV screen at any given point- MTV, Bush, Fonda- American icons have little in the way of helping our heroes with their problems- personally, professionally, physically, and mentally.
Besides the great commentary track, the DVD offers a weak 6-minute featurette, made during filming, and an additional six deleted scenes, only three of which are meaningful. In one Jack chides Miles for not picking up on Maya’s batting eyelashes when they first meet; in another the two go shopping for shoes at a local mall, continuing the films theme of ironic, commercialized American spaces (malls, restaurants, motels, wineries, etc…); and finally, cut I would imagine for disturbing imagery, a dog is hit by Miles and later its carcass is seen being eaten by a vulture. This just before Stephanie (Sandra Oh) accosts Jack for lying, by beating him with a motorcycle helmet. Left in, the dead dog would symbolize an even darker horizon in the next few scenes, but left out, the lack of foreshadowing gives more of a surprise. As an extra, it shows just how far Payne and Taylor were willing to dive into that forbidden Dark Side Jack warned Miles about a few nights before. “I realize these are meager offerings,” writes Payne as an introduction to the deleted material, “but I hope you can enjoy them just the same.” Slight, yes, but nothing in “Sideways”, even these short snippets of cutting-room material, is meager.
by Adam Suraf