Mondovino

Great poster, huh?

This is a movie I have had for awhile and for one reason or another have not gotten around to watching until recently. I rmemeber reading abut it when it played at Cannes the same year as Fahrenheit 9/11 and at the time the reactions were extreme and mixed.

Nossiter is an interesting and talented filmaker and his small fiction films Sunday and Signs and Wonders (also shot on DV) are well worth seeking out. As is this one, with some reservations.

The film is basically about the globalization of wines and the influence of America, California specifically, and Robert Mondavi and Robert Parker more specifically, on the marketplace. Some of the criticism comes off as, and please pardon the pun, sour grapes. I only say this because we are never really given the Mondavi's side with any sort of balance that would allow us to make up our own mind. Shots of Parker with Reagan or the same with one of the heads of the Rothschild estate come off as a little overbearing. That being said, it is an argument well worth making and to view the effect of globalization (more specifically Americanization) through the prism of wine is fascinating.

The other problem I have is how Nossiter doesn't ness. address his role in the film. The film feels like a home movie in many ways and I kind of wish he took that into account while structuring the film. We get the sense that Nossiter is holding back, that he does not want to come off as Michael Moore, but his presence is there and as an audience we want that addressed (who is this?

Apparently there is a much longer mini-series of the material available in Europe too and maybe that addresses some of this.