Film Noir

This is just kind of a cool story that really has nothing to do with politics.

The superb film Sideways, for which Paul Giamatti was absolutely robbed of an Oscar nomination, features a lovely scene where two characters reveal themselves to each other while discussing wine, specifically pinot noir.

The pinot noir repartee between Paul Giamatti's and Virginia Madsen's characters in the movie "Sideways" has helped spur dizzying sales of the red wine during a lingering U.S. glut, wine experts say.

[…]

"People come in and immediately say, 'Where's the pinot noir?"' said Steve Villani, manager of Columbus Circle Liquors in Manhattan. "After a while, we began to ask them if they saw the movie, and they laugh out loud and say, 'yes."'

[...]

"People have really latched onto the romance of the scene, which made pinot the star, no doubt about it," said Phil Lynch, spokesman for Louisville, Kentucky wine producer Brown-Forman Inc.

That scene is so charming, so warm, it’s actually reassuring to find out that there are so many people who connected with it. Being immersed in politics during a time of such divisive partisan acrimony can make you cynical. Reading that, en masse, people have embraced a symbol of a film like Sideways is a small delight, a reminder of how wonderful and fragile and loveable people can be.

(That one’s for you, Pierce.)