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Mondovino

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Actors: Albiera Antinori, Lodovico Antinori, Michael Broadbent, Battista Columbu, Lina Columbu
Studio: Velocity / Thinkfilm
Category: DVD

List Price: ~~$7.99~~
Buy New: $4.14
You Save: $3.85 (48%)

New (25) Used (17) from $3.98

Avg. Customer Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

33 reviews
Sales Rank: 10682

Format: Color, Dvd-video, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), Italian (Original Language), Portuguese (Original Language), Spanish (Original Language)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 135
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6

MPN: DTF53455D
UPC: 821575534550
EAN: 0821575534550
ASIN: B0009OL8E4

Theatrical Release Date: 2004
Release Date: July 12, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW AND FACTORY SEALED

Customer Reviews:

Showing reviews 26-30 of 33

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Move over, Sideways: Here comes Mondovino. August 3, 2005
9 out of 12 found this review helpful

The second movie of the year with a strong wine-related focus, Mondovino ("World of wine") is no clone of Alexander Payne's award-winning dark comedy about two over-served wine enthusiasts touring the Santa Barbara wine country in search of wine and women, never mind the song.

Although the Mondovino producers aren't loath to publicize the film's upcoming (July 12) DVD release with a blurb from Vogue declaring it "A brilliant extended footnote to Sideways," the only real connection between the two movies is that they both have a lot to do with wine.

But you don't have to be a serious wine "geek" to enjoy Sideways, while I would assert that anyone who is not deeply into wine and wine-industry trends might find Mondovino an extended exercise in excruciating boredom. If you're sufficiently interested in wine to subscribe to this publication, however, I believe you'll find Mondovino very interesting indeed. I thought the 2-hour, 15-minute film just flew. My long-suffering bride, on the other hand, fell asleep in the middle of it and said it was "interesting but way too long."

Directed and filmed by Jonathan Nossiter, an American expatriate indie filmmaker who lives in France and loves wine, it's an extended non-fiction documentary filled with talking heads (who talk in at least five languages, most of them subtitled) and only the occasional wine-country scene, all of it filmed in a jerky hand-held-camera style that's trendy but that might foster carsickness.

In short, it's the kind of narrow-interest niche film that its cult followers (like me) will play over and over again, but so obscure that it played in theaters in only a handful of selected markets in the U.S. I didn't get to see it in Louisville until I was able to wangle a special videotape from the producers so I could preview the DVD edition, which will become available to anyone who wants it on July 12.

Mondovino's theme, briefly told, is globalization in the world wine business, and the tension between internationalists, "flying wine makers," big-name wine critics, industrial producers and artisanal wine makers (some earthy peasants, some quite well off), expressed in quick-cut interviews filmed in an "arty" style that features close-up facial shots that linger on every wart and crease, plus lots of cutaways to dogs (including Robert M. Parker Jr.'s flatulent bulldog), an odd leitmotif that becomes almost surreal after a while.

Nossiter's method is more like Michael Moore than Alexander Payne, using selectively edited interview clips to nudge the viewer toward a conclusion ... he's clearly no proponent of globalization and admires the philosophy and effort of small, local producers (as, in fact, do I). But Mondovino is hardly polemic. Nossiter's editing clearly casts "flying wine maker" Michel Rolland as a massive ego; Parker as a suburbanite at home with his dogs; Wine Spectator's James Suckling as a languid sybarite enjoying la dolce vita with Italian friends; California's Mondavis as an Italian-American family turned multinational corporation; Napa's Staglins as Stepford dot-com yuppies, and wealthy Italian nobles-turned-winemakers as crypto-Fascists pining for Mussolini. But the slant is much more subtle than, say, Fahrenheit 9/11, and Nossiter leaves plenty of room for intelligent viewers to draw their own conclusions.

My conclusion: If you're looking for a hard-hitting investigative piece that asks tough questions and unveils the smoking gun, you won't find it here; nor will you be impressed if you're in the mood for a barrel-of-laughs wine comedy like Sideways. But if you're interested enough in the wine business to care whether artisanal wine making gradually dies out in a globalizing economy, or whether Michel Rolland encourages his client producers to make standardized international wines that mask terroir, or whether Parker and Wine Spectator accelerate the trend by promoting such wines, then you will find Mondovino well worth the price of admission.

4 out of 5 stars

For wine lovers only August 1, 2005
1 out of 5 found this review helpful

I personally enjoyed this documentary. It gives some insight into the wine industry and the politics associated with it. It is however truly a 'documentary' with no 'story line' and would probably be of minimal interest except to those of us who already love wine.

5 out of 5 stars

Epic Documentary about the Loss of Wine's Original Purpose July 29, 2005
50 out of 62 found this review helpful

In this sprawling two-hour-plus documentary in which there is no narration, we see charming, sympathetic, sometimes cranky old French and Italian men who talk about the origins of wine as being religious and spiritual with each region linked to a specific taste, flavor, and character of wine. These old wine makers look on with foreboding doom and disgust at the new global wine makers who, catering to Americans' infantile tastes ("easy to drink wines") and who favor oak to "terroir"(the earthy tastes in many French wines)are changing the way wines are made forever. It seems the small wineries are being bought out by the big corporations, synthetic methods are used, everyone is creating a McDonalds Bic Mac wine that is predictable, doesn't need ageing, and caters to wine critic Robert Parker's personal tastes and biases (he loves the big California wines so the Europeans are emulating that model.)

The profiles of philistines, vulgarians, and other avaricious types are remarkable in that the director just let's them talk and reveal themselves. They are really like caricatures of villians in action films. To hear one wealthy family transplanted to Argentina talk about the indigenous people as being lazy for example is almost too much to bear.

The most touching part of the film is the relationship between an ageing curmudgeon wine maker, fully of witty philosophical quips, and his daughter who shares his sensibility. She tells her father she is quitting the big winery she is working at because it has sold out. Her brother, who has business leanings, seems hell-bent on ruining his father's legacy. This triangle between father and his daughter and son is what rises this film to the level of a truly excellent documentary.

One last bit of praise. The director, who interviews his subjects in the film, seems fluent in many languages: French, Italian, Spanish, and so on. Being able to speak his subjects' language gave him more access and this helped the film immensely.

1 out of 5 stars

mondoFiction July 27, 2005
6 out of 28 found this review helpful

This is a Michael Moore type mockumentary. The camera work is shoddy. The storyline is predictable corporate conspiracy stock. Robert Mondovi is taking over the world through wine sales supported by one French wine expert and Robert Parker. They are all in league with those vile conservatives like Bush, Reagan and can you believe it... Adolf Hitler. The poor French wine makers are doomed. One Italian grape grower sold 75% of his vineyard to Mondovi and after watching Mondovi create a cash crop from the old vineyard, laminated his sale and blamed his misfortune on Mondovi. Easily this is one the more propaganda laced films made since Reefer Madness.

1 out of 5 stars

nauseating... July 25, 2005
8 out of 25 found this review helpful

As much as this is an interesting subject with some historical merit, this is by far the most annoying documentary i have ever seen. the camera work is truly neurotic and extremely distracting. The filmmaker either had too much to drink during the shoot or he was too cheap to hire someone who knew how to handle a camera. Seriously folks, save your money and buy yourself a nice bottle of Bordeaux.

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