22° TORINO FILM FESTIVAL
Out of Competition

Sideways

Sideways
by Alexander Payne
Country: USA
Year: 2004
Duration: 130'


Miles, a divorced, aspiring writer who teaches English and has a passion for good wine, drags his friend Jack, an unsuccessful soap opera star who is about to get married, on a wine tour along the byways of California. As Miles continues to pine for his ex-wife, Jack is in search of one last adventure before he weds. The trip gives them both a chance to reflect on their failures and to question themselves about friendship and love.

"Unfortunately, creative work scratches the itch that might lead to personal catharsis, yet never achieves catharsis. My cowriter and I write a lot of ourselves and our sense of human experience into our Screenplays. So perhaps we are all of the characters and none of them simultaneously. Certainly the film as a whole reflects the type of shared sense of humor that we have toward life. By the way, I heard a nice definition for a comedy, which is, 'Comedy is tragedy in disguise'." (A. Payne)

Biography

film director

Alexander Payne

(Omaha, NE, USA, 1961) graduated in film studies from UCLA and debuted with Citizen Ruth, which was presented at the Sundance Festival. In 1999, he directed Election, which received numerous awards, including best screenplay from the Writers’ Guild of America and the New York Film Critics Circle. Thanks to his next feature film, About Schmidt (2002), Jack Nicholson received the Oscar for best actor; the film also competed at Cannes and inaugurated the New York Film Festival. Two years later, Sideways won an Oscar for best adapted screenplay, and was also nominated for best film and best director. In 2011, he co-wrote the Oscar-winning screenplay with Nat Faxon and Jim Rash and directed The Descendants, starring George Clooney and selected at TFF. The following year, he helmed the black-and-white road movie Nebraska, featuring Bruce Dern, which won the Best Actor award at Cannes. In 2017, he directed Downsizing, starring Matt Damon, which was selected in competion at Venice. In 2023, he directed The Holdovers, presented at Telluride and starring Paul Giamatti.

FILMOGRAFIA

Carmen (cm, 1985), The Passion of Martin (mm, 1991), Citizen Ruth (La storia di Ruth - Donna americana, 1996), Election (id., 1999), About Schmidt (A proposito di Schmidt, 2002), Sideways (Sideways - In viaggio con Jack, 2004), Paris, je t’aime (ep. 14e arrondissement, cm, 2006), Hung (ep. pilota/Pilot, cm, tv, 2009), The Descendants (id., 2011), The Descendants (Paradiso amaro, 2011), Nebraska (id., 2013), Downsizing (Downsizing – Vivere alla grande, 2017), The Holdovers (The Holdovers – Lezioni di vita, 2023).

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