Mondovino - unwatchable dog of a film

[Jenise]

Or the disgust in the expression of the Italian retailer pointing at the price of Ornellaia. Or the pictures of the Argentianian wine grower's home - no words needed. Or the "life style" talk from the Staglins and Sucklings. It was the latter aspect, that I found more important than any Parker / Rolland bashing.

Peter, I'm with you, that's what I also found the most interesting and memorable. Didn't care for the style of filmmaking in particular, but I did enjoy the way Nossiter got certain people to put their egos on parade. The Staglins, James Suckling, the ambitious and duplicitous Mondavis, the huffing and puffing Rolland.

FWIW, in the "Special Features" of the DVD Nossiter offers up one of the episodes of the supposedly forthcoming 13-part Mondovino series. I found that one episode delivered pretty much everything that the 2-hour film did, but it was one less hour of camera-shake to put up with.

I agree, LL. The scene of Michel Lafarge and his family dining with the field workers was far more important to Nossiter's thesis -- especially when mentally juxtaposed against his chats with CA field hands -- than all of the hypocrisy of Aimé Guibert on full display. I didn't have any problem with the camera work, but then again I've never been very susceptible to motion sickness.

Mark Lipton

I don't know if I buy the theory that Aimé Guibert opposed the Mondavi venture out of pure jealousy. Aimé genuinely seems to be passionate about what he says in Mondovino; it doesn't come across as an act - even if some people may be good at using suave arguments and language just to put across a point that they don't necessarily believe in but that is convenient at the moment.

Maybe folks down in the Languedoc really and truly don't want to see globalization taking place in their region. They want it to stay as it is. There are benefits to the global economy, but there are also important reasons to be cautious about its spread into all areas of life. Some things really are sacred!

I really like the part where Hubert de Montille (I could listen to that man talk all day and not get bored) says that he dislikes "monolithic thinking" - that was priceless and beautiful IMO.

the ambitious and duplicitous Mondavis, the huffing and puffing Rolland.

I thought that w.r.t. the Mondavis, the film left out some of the complexities and ironies of the affair, like the beating they received from the Wine Spectator in recent years, and the hostile take over. The Rolland / Ornellaia connection. It all does not fit together to me, and I would have liked to see an account that makes sense of all this. It doesn't make much sense as it was (partly) presented. Who is the most powerful on the Mondavi / WS / Rolland triangle?

Peter