Virginia Madsen Returns to Silver Screen in Sideways

By Alan Silverman 
In the new comedy by writer/director Alexander Payne, two friends nearing 40 take a holiday in the California wine country and learn some valuable and often very funny lessons about life. Alan Silverman has a look at Sideways.
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Miles is a failed novelist, wounded emotionally by rejections¹ from publishers and by a painful divorce from his wife of 10 years. Jack² is an actor whose career reached mediocrity before beginning its decline; but Jack is about to get married so Miles plans a bachelor trip to the vineyards of the Santa Ynez Valley near Santa Barbara, California where he can teach his good friend about fine wine.
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Jack, on the other hand, has a different idea for the holiday: a final fling before taking his wedding vows³.
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Sideways is adapted from the novel by Rex Pickett; and writer/director Alexander Payne, whose previous films include the biting satire⁴ Election and the life crisis comedy About Schmidt, admits that his own love of wine drew him to the story and the characters - even Miles, despite his often obnoxious⁵, elitist attitudes.
"I wouldn't limit that to wine. I think that pedantry⁶ and snobbery⁷ of any sort is equally irritating and is often practiced by those who lack genuine self-esteem and need to achieve self-esteem by some mastery of something outside of him or herself. So in Miles' case it's wine."
It's that thing that's so serious you just lose all sense of self-consciousness about it, because you are so passionately⁸ involved in this idiotic⁹ thing that you're doing; and it's funny."
Paul Giamatti plays Miles and he admits he could identify with the character - perhaps a bit too well.
"I've never had that experience of playing a character where you go 'I really understand what this character is going through.' This is the first time where I actually had sort of an overlap¹⁰ with the character. I thought 'yeah, I can sort of understand a lot of the frustration¹¹ and the sense of failure and all that stuff.' Yes, totally."
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Thomas Haden Church co-stars as Jack: as loose and fun-loving as Miles is uptight¹²; but he says each friend can and does learn from the other.
"You have two 40-year-old guys who are at the halfway¹³ point and the first half of their lives has been largely defined by failure. It really has. Now they're facing another 40 years, give or take, of imminent¹⁴ failure . . . or they can make a choice. You choose whatever your path of mediocrity will continue to be or, in Miles' case, you choose life. I think that's what's really wondrous¹⁵ and hopeful about the movie at the end: he chooses life. He chooses to make a difference."
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Virginia Madsen returns to the screen after a four-year hiatus to play Maya, a waitress who knows Miles from his many visits to the wine country - and who helps open his eyes and his heart to understanding that wine, like life and love, needs to be shared to be truly appreciated.
"Maya is serenity¹⁶. That's what I felt she was in character. And she is the character of the valley itself. That sounds like a big thing to take on. But that's what I really felt she was because that's how I feel when I got there. You don't become a different person; I think you become your more true self. There's a lot of truth in Maya. I just felt like that in real life the whole time I was up there."
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Sideways also co-stars Sandra Oh as Jack's lover during the brief holiday. The film was shot on location in the lush Santa Ynez Valley and features a jazzy score by Rolfe Kent.
Alan Silverman for the Voice Of America in Hollywood.
注释：
emotionally 在情绪上
mediocrity 平常，平庸
satire 讽刺文学，讽刺电影
obnoxious 不愉快的，讨厌的
pedantry 假装学者，卖弄学问
snobbery 势力
passionately 充满热情的
overlap（与……）交迭
imminent 即将来临的，逼近的

 

1 rejections   

拒绝( rejection的名词复数 )； 摒弃； 剔除物； 排斥

参考例句：

• Most writers endure a number of rejections before being published. 大部分作家经历无数次的退稿才守得云开，作品得到发表。
• Supervise workers and monitors production quality to minimize rejections. 管理工人，监控生产质量，减少退货。

2 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

3 vows   

誓言( vow的名词复数 )； 郑重宣布，许愿

参考例句：

• Matrimonial vows are to show the faithfulness of the new couple. 婚誓体现了新婚夫妇对婚姻的忠诚。
• The nun took strait vows. 那位修女立下严格的誓愿。

4 satire   

n.讽刺，讽刺文学，讽刺作品

参考例句：

• The movie is a clever satire on the advertising industry.那部影片是关于广告业的一部巧妙的讽刺作品。
• Satire is often a form of protest against injustice.讽刺往往是一种对不公正的抗议形式。

5 obnoxious   

adj.极恼人的，讨人厌的，可憎的

参考例句：

• These fires produce really obnoxious fumes and smoke.这些火炉冒出来的烟气确实很难闻。
• He is the most obnoxious man I know.他是我认识的最可憎的人。

6 pedantry   

n.迂腐，卖弄学问

参考例句：

• The book is a demonstration of scholarship without pedantry.这本书表现出学术水平又不故意卖弄学问。
• He fell into a kind of pedantry.他变得有点喜欢卖弄学问。

7 snobbery   

n. 充绅士气派, 俗不可耐的性格

参考例句：

• Jocelyn accused Dexter of snobbery. 乔斯琳指责德克斯特势力。
• Snobbery is not so common in English today as it was said fifty years ago. 如今＂Snobbery＂在英语中已不象50年前那么普遍使用。

8 passionately   

ad.热烈地，激烈地

参考例句：

• She could hate as passionately as she could love. 她能恨得咬牙切齿，也能爱得一往情深。
• He was passionately addicted to pop music. 他酷爱流行音乐。

9 idiotic   

adj.白痴的

参考例句：

• It is idiotic to go shopping with no money.去买东西而不带钱是很蠢的。
• The child's idiotic deeds caused his family much trouble.那小孩愚蠢的行为给家庭带来许多麻烦。

10 overlap   

v.重叠，与…交叠；n.重叠

参考例句：

• The overlap between the jacket and the trousers is not good.夹克和裤子重叠的部分不好看。
• Tiles overlap each other.屋瓦相互叠盖。

11 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

12 uptight   

adj.焦虑不安的，紧张的

参考例句：

• He's feeling a bit uptight about his exam tomorrow.他因明天的考试而感到有点紧张。
• Try to laugh at it instead of getting uptight.试着一笑了之，不要紧张。

13 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

14 imminent   

adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的

参考例句：

• The black clounds show that a storm is imminent.乌云预示暴风雨即将来临。
• The country is in imminent danger.国难当头。

15 wondrous   

adj.令人惊奇的，奇妙的；adv.惊人地；异乎寻常地；令人惊叹地

参考例句：

• The internal structure of the Department is wondrous to behold.看一下国务院的内部结构是很有意思的。
• We were driven across this wondrous vast land of lakes and forests.我们乘车穿越这片有着湖泊及森林的广袤而神奇的土地。

16 serenity   

n.宁静，沉着，晴朗

参考例句：

• Her face,though sad,still evoked a feeling of serenity.她的脸色虽然悲伤，但仍使人感觉安详。
• She escaped to the comparative serenity of the kitchen.她逃到相对安静的厨房里。