Reflections on "Sideways"

Being sufficiently Californicated to distinguish between a Pinot Noir and a Pinot Grigio, having done wine country often (it's only like 30 min to Napa and 50 min to Sonoma), and being the type who appreciates a cerebral film, "Sideways" had come highly recommended.

I'll say that I think the movie is truly brilliant, and powerful in what it's captured and how it's written. Symbol, metaphor, plot arcs all accessibly well woven, so it doesn't take a Ph.D in film history and a minor in French literature to notice them. I found the film superlative in all respects, except that I didn't think it was funny.

Now don't get me wrong: I'm not saying this is bad. I'm not even saying I'm disappointed.

But that movie is about addiction. It offers us an unflinching glimpse at the lives of two addicts: One addicted to alcohol, one to sex. Each has turned to his addiction consistently through his life to avoid dealing with the reality of his circumstance. Each diverts time and energy into his addiction that would yield more meaningful returns of real happiness if allocated elsewhere. One steals $700 from his mother, yet keeps a wine cellar with many $200 bottles. The other is so hungry for his fix that he sexualizes everything: conversations, waitresses, and even the handiwipes for his barbecue ribs. He constantly uses his thoughts to derive a sexual thrill from the circumstances around him. The sex junky is in crisis because of his concern about his future, and what it will mean for him to surrender his sense of self as an actor to join the family business. But he buries his feelings and tries to numb them with sex. The alcoholic drowns his feelings of regret, rejection and inadequacy in wine. They're addicts, being addicts, investing in their addiction seeking emotional returns that will never come. This is why they cannot move forwards in their lives: They invest in nothing that can bring them real progress and growth as human beings. They go not forwards, but Sideways.

And this is why the movie was so sad for me. I spotted the two as active addicts early on. So their plight was then no more amusing to me than watching a frantic housefly desperately continue to crash into a window. Every time he moves in the wrong direction with the earnestness and conviction of one who doesn't truly understand the nature of the problem he aims to solve, your heart aches for the impending disappointment and dejection.

So I guess I don't find addicts trapped in addiction very funny. But I did think it was a great film.