Mondovino
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Movie Reviews of Mondovino
Movie Review: For wine lovers only
Summary: 4 Stars
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.Movie Review: The inside story of the wine industry
Summary: 4 Stars
An excellent (but long) documentary on the wine industry. Some funny lines about Mondavi Family wines. Beautiful landscapes of wineries in Europe and in California. You'll never look at a glass of wine the same way again.Movie Review: Not Dead, Yet
Summary: 3 Stars
For those who have not yet seen the film, I recommend it only to wine buffs and recommend that you FIRST watch the DVD's bonus feature, "Quo Vademus?" (Part 6 of the original made-for-TV 10-part series). I think I'd have understood and enjoyed the main film better had I seen that first.
I found it interesting that, while most reviewers slammed the hideous camera work, it was not until I read the 18th of 18 reviews on Amazon (plus many elsewhere) that I found someone else annoyed by the mostly unreadable subtitles. I could almost learn the several languages more quickiy than I could decode the pale-on-pale subtitles.
While I very much struggled to follow the film in many places (and had to replay many parts, some of them several times), found it too long and disjointed, sometimes boring, I still thought it worthwhile for me. I enjoy drinking and learning about wine, live surrounded by vineyards, and have two family members in the wine business. I did learn a lot from the film, including how much I still have to learn about much of the business, especially in Europe.
On the other hand, I found the obvious conclusion that the artisanal quality of wine growing and making are nearly swallowed up by marketing, technology, and profit to be premature and perhaps somewhat presumptuous. The Mondavi empire has collapsed. California is repleat with artisanal, boutique wineries that take (what we here in upstart California may presume to pass for) Terroir quite seriously. Navarro Vineyards, in Anderson Valley, for example (there are many, many others). Until I saw this film, I thought California's foremost wine consultant was Helen Turley, yet she was not even mentioned. She doesn't just "micro-oxygenate" wines but works right with the soil, the plants, the clusters, and every aspect of what goes into making a wine unique, including, I daresay, Terroir.
Watch the film but don't give up on individuality in wines, just yet.
Movie Review: interesting
Summary: 3 Stars
I've noticed that the reviews seem to be good or bad, depending on if the reviewer agrees or disagrees with the filmmaker's perspective. I'm fairly new to the wine hobby, so the subject matter was also pretty new to me. It was certainly interesting to see perspectives from a variety of people in the industry. It is also interesting to see the behind-the-scenes politics of wine. The filmmaker has an opinion, but I don't think it was overly stressed as all subjects spoke for themselves; i.e., he edited the film, but didn't put words into anyone's mouth.
As some have mentioned, the camera work is terrible, but the film is much more about what's being said than about what's being filmed. Happily, the subtitles are stationary, so the shoddy filming didn't bother me much. I'd recommend it for someone who, like myself, has a passion (or developing passion) for wine. For someone not particularly interested in wine, it's probably not worth watching.
Movie Review: Interesting content, very weak production and editing...
Summary: 3 Stars
This felt like a college video production on a much bigger budget... The content is, for me, inherently interesting, but the production was almost entirely on-the-fly winemaker interviews and following several personalities around their spheres of influence,then doing a relatively crude job of editinig it all together. There was clearly no script or detailed plan going into production, and MondoVino reflects that fact. It also appears to have been shot entirely on video, which is not inappropriate for this sort of piece, but the camera work is not particularly imaginative or interesting, and it looks as though the color palette may have been reduced somehow in the editing process. (I don't really think it was, but it appears that way...)