The spoiler warning exists solely because I will discuss specific details. Not because there is anything like a dramatic arc to be spoiled here.
My friends and I watched this one night during our weekly wine club. It was unanimously panned and long enough that by the time everyone was sick of it there was still 45 minutes left to openly mock it. The movie is sprawling and unfocused. Unfortunately, it does not appear that it will age as well as, say, a wine. Its topic, globalization, was a much more ripe one when filming of this began. Perhaps in this regard the movie's focus on the many eccentric parts once felt more fresh. Pre-Thomas Friedman, Al Gore, the rise of the global economy and global catastrophe, perhaps it was much more novel to realize how a village in France and blowhards in California (the movie's perception) could be so intertwined and yet maintain their eccentricities. Unfortunately, in 2008 it feels stale and its large scope seems unfocused and prone to repetition and rambling.
In fact, I would not hesitate to give this documentary a lower score but the film maker's camera antics occasionally provide some real, if non- productive, laughter. (Spoilers) Examples include zooming over a woman's shoulder as she talks, to the presumably more interesting goldfish in the background, zooming in on the nostril of a winegrower waxing eloquent of wine-making as art whilst considerable mucus oozes from his nose. Allowing a California couple to provide an in depth tour of their stucco 'mcmansion' while sounding like they are describing Versailles is also hilarious. All of which are kind of mean and a lot of work for their relative contributions to the story.
My friends and I watched this one night during our weekly wine club. It was unanimously panned and long enough that by the time everyone was sick of it there was still 45 minutes left to openly mock it. The movie is sprawling and unfocused. Unfortunately, it does not appear that it will age as well as, say, a wine. Its topic, globalization, was a much more ripe one when filming of this began. Perhaps in this regard the movie's focus on the many eccentric parts once felt more fresh. Pre-Thomas Friedman, Al Gore, the rise of the global economy and global catastrophe, perhaps it was much more novel to realize how a village in France and blowhards in California (the movie's perception) could be so intertwined and yet maintain their eccentricities. Unfortunately, in 2008 it feels stale and its large scope seems unfocused and prone to repetition and rambling.
In fact, I would not hesitate to give this documentary a lower score but the film maker's camera antics occasionally provide some real, if non- productive, laughter. (Spoilers) Examples include zooming over a woman's shoulder as she talks, to the presumably more interesting goldfish in the background, zooming in on the nostril of a winegrower waxing eloquent of wine-making as art whilst considerable mucus oozes from his nose. Allowing a California couple to provide an in depth tour of their stucco 'mcmansion' while sounding like they are describing Versailles is also hilarious. All of which are kind of mean and a lot of work for their relative contributions to the story.