New classics of American cinema don’t come along that often, so grab this one with both hands. It’s an occasion for the singing of hosannas from the roof of every cinema. Director Alexander Payne has already given us two gems with Election and About Schmidt, and now there is Sideways, a glorious, bittersweet comedy of male friendship and midlife crisis that is even better. It’s something to be compared with John Cassavetes or Hal Ashby or Woody Allen’s Annie Hall; a particular kind of freewheeling filmmaking that hasn’t surfaced for decades.
Sideways is beautifully written, terrifically acted; it is paced and constructed with such understated mastery that it is a sort of miracle. The observations are pitilessly exact and meshed with impeccably executed sight gags and funny lines, and everything is bathed in the solvent of exquisite sadness. Yet its gentleness and humanity do not preclude a mule-kick of emotional power. Audiences at the screenings where I have been present may have heard something like a fusillade of gunshots from the auditorium; it was the sound of my heart breaking into a thousand pieces.
Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church give the performances of their lives, complemented by two outstanding female leads: Sandra Oh and Virginia Madsen. Giamatti is Miles, the divorced English teacher and would-be novelist well into his 40s, who is staring failure full in the face. Church plays his buddy and old college roommate Jack: a handsome-ish actor and incorrigible “pussy hound” whose career washed up after a couple of TV shows 10 years before. With many a suppressed bachelor’s misgiving, he is about to get married.
The pair of them, deep in denial about the way their lives are turning out, go on a road trip. It is Miles’s “wedding gift” to Jack: he will take him on a tour of the Californian wine country, and teach him about the passion for wine that has taken over his life. Secretly, he is hoping for a little male bonding to salve his wretched loneliness. But all Jack is hoping for is some bedroom action with local women before he has to tie the knot — and Miles cloaks his desolate feelings of betrayal with righteous disgust. All he can do to manage his despair is concentrate on the new love of his life: wine.
Miles loves pontificating at tastings, and comes up with the most uproarious wine-snobbisms since James Thurber’s famous line: “It’s a naive domestic burgundy, but I think you’ll be amused by its presumption.” Miles fastidiously sips a Cabernet and pronounces it “quaffable, but far from transcendent”. Miles identifies with the pinot grape because it’s delicate and sensitive like him, but it’s only when he meets beautiful, divorced Maya — an excellent performance from Virginia Madsen — that he finds a kindred wine-loving spirit and someone who might redeem his sorry life.
The sadness is balanced with wonderfully observed comedy. Payne has raised his game very satisfyingly with this film, taking his familiar preoccupation with male menopausal angst and giving it a new gentleness, richness and maturity. Sideways now has five Oscar nominations: including one for best picture. It is light years ahead of the preening, pumped-up competitors in this category (The Aviator, Finding Neverland, Million Dollar Baby and Ray). We can only hope. — Â