《Sideways》　杯酒人生　给自己的生活一些指引

No.060　《Sideways》　杯酒人生　给自己的生活一些指引

英文导读

Sideways is a 2004 comedy-drama film written by Jim Taylor and Alexander Payne and directed by Payne. Adapted from Rex Pickett's 2004 novel of the same name, Sideways follows men in their forties, portrayed by Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church, who take a week-long road trip to Santa Barbara County Wine Country.

Directed by Alexander Payne, Sideways follows Miles (Paul Giamatti), who is distressed about his lack of success as a novelist, and Jack (Thomas Haden Church), an equally unsuccessful actor with a rapidly approaching wedding. In a last-ditch effort to sow their wild oats, Jack and Miles take off on a final road trip to California's wine country the week prior to Jack's wedding. Both men have goals for the vacation—Miles wants to turn Jack on to the art of wine tasting, while Jack is concerned with exploiting his last days as a bachelor—but when the two men come across two fascinating women (Virginia Madsen and Sandra Oh), the duo is forced to examine their morality, and if maturity isn't such a depressing prospect.

Time Out London said the film was "intelligent, funny and moving", and the Chicago Sun-Times' Roger Ebert, giving the film four stars, said, "what happens during the seven days adds up to the best human comedy of the year – comedy, because it is funny, and human, because it is surprisingly moving." The review aggregator Metacritic gives Sideways a Metascore of 94%, signifying "universal (critical) acclaim." The movie also holds a rare 96% rating at Rotten Tomatoes with 206 positive reviews out of 213.

Throughout the film, Miles speaks fondly of the red wine varietal Pinot noir, while denigrating Merlot. Following the film's U.S. release in October 2004, Merlot sales dropped 2% while Pinot noir sales increased 16% in the Western United States. A similar trend occurred in British wine outlets. Sales of Merlot dropped after the film's release possibly due to Miles' disparaging remarks about the varietal in the film.

Payne and Taylor won multiple awards for their screenplay. Giamatti and Church, as well as actresses Virginia Madsen and Sandra Oh, playing local women who become romantically involved with the men, all received accolades for their performances.

Sideways won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, and was nominated for four other awards, including Best Picture, Best Director (Alexander Payne), Best Supporting Actor (Thomas Haden Church) and Best Supporting Actress (Virginia Madsen).

获奖情况

2005年第77届奥斯卡：最佳改编剧本，并荣获最佳影片提名、最佳导演提名、最佳男配角提名、最佳女配角提名。

影片信息

导演：亚历山大·佩恩

编剧：亚历山大·佩恩、吉姆·泰勒

主演：保罗·吉亚玛提、托马斯·哈登·丘奇、维吉妮娅·马德森、吴珊卓

类型：剧情、喜剧、爱情

制片国家（地区）：美国

上映日期：2004-10-22（美国）

片长：126分钟

又名：《酒佬日记》《寻找新方向》《并肩前行》

剧情简介

迈尔斯（保罗·吉亚玛提　饰）和杰克（托马斯·哈登·丘奇　饰）是老朋友了，看着杰克即将踏入婚姻殿堂，迈尔斯更加感叹起自己失败的生活：婚姻失败、作家梦遥不可及、干着无聊枯燥的职业、不再年轻的岁数。

迈尔斯对葡萄酒的研究颇为深厚，在杰克的婚礼之前，他决定带着老友一起旅游，去加利福尼亚的葡萄酒生产基地借酒来放松心情。如果遇上一夜情当然是最好不过了。

在酒香浓郁的加利福尼亚州，杰克很快找到了新欢斯蒂芬妮。而迈尔斯也试探性地靠近了一个曾经相识的女侍者玛雅，她恰巧是斯蒂芬妮的好友。很快杰克和斯蒂芬妮进入了热恋，迈尔斯和玛雅也很快相知。但是，无意中，迈尔斯向玛雅透露了杰克周末即将结婚的事实，导致杰克被斯蒂芬妮暴打一顿，同时，玛雅也和迈尔斯分手。

随后发生的很多事情，都让迈尔斯更加的消沉，直到玛雅的一个电话激起了迈尔斯的生活热情。迈尔斯重新上路，敲响了玛雅的家门……

制作花絮

吴珊卓为拍摄本片而学驾驶摩托车。

乔治·克鲁尼曾希望扮演杰克，但导演亚历山大·佩恩不想起用大牌明星。

片中品酒课上的葡萄酒大多不含酒精，出于拍摄需要，演员们喝了太多这种葡萄酒，以至看见就想作呕。

本片同时囊括了洛杉矶、纽约和全美影评人协会最佳剧本奖、金球奖最佳剧本奖、美国作家协会最佳剧本奖和奥斯卡最佳剧本奖。

片中4人在晚餐时的对话大多是即兴发挥的。

美国和英国的比诺黑葡萄酒因本片的成功而价格上涨。

重点学习

In a last-ditch effort to sow their wild oats

我们都知道，oat作为名词使用时，是“燕麦；燕麦籽”的意思，文中的wild oats并不是“野生的燕麦”的意思，而是“放荡不羁；轻率”的意思，用英语解释它就是：the indiscretions of youth, esp dissoluteness before settling down. 比如：Her brother sowed his wild oats while he was in college, but now he is a better man. （她哥哥在大学时代放荡不羁，但他现在行为检点多了。）

Jack and Miles take off on a final road trip to California's wine country

文中的take off是英语中的一个常用固定搭配，它词义丰富，在文中是“出发；匆匆离开”的意思，比如：The professor took off for Shanghai this morning.（教授今天上午动身去上海了。）它最常见的意思是“脱下（衣帽、鞋子等），脱掉；拿掉；移去；拆下；领走；带走；带去（某物）；移送（某处）”等，比如：He took off his coat and sat down. （他脱下大衣坐了下来。）Take off用于口语中，可以表达“开始；开始流行；突然受到广泛欢迎，突然被广泛使用；（想法、计划等）开始获得成功”的意思，比如：After a slow start,the plan soon took off and was accepted by all.（计划开始时进展得很慢，但很快见成效了，而且被大家广泛接受。）

单词时间

distressed[diˈstrest] adj. 痛苦的；忧虑的；贫困的；受损的

rapidly[ˈræpidli] adv. 迅速地；很快地；立即

last-ditch[ˈlɑ:stditʃ] adj. 坚持到最后的；最后防线的

sow[səu] vt. 播种；散布；使密布

oat[əut] n. 燕麦；麦片粥，燕麦粥

bachelor[ˈbætʃələ] n. 学士；单身汉；（尚未交配的）小雄兽

fascinating[ˈfæsineitiŋ] adj. 迷人的；吸引人的；使人神魂颠倒的

duo[ˈdju:əu] n. 二重奏；二重唱；二人组

maturity[məˈtjuəriti] n. 成熟；到期；完备

fondly[ˈfɔndli] adv. 天真地；怜爱地；温柔地

varietal[vəˈraiətəl] n. 用一种葡萄酿制的葡萄酒

denigrate[ˈdeniɡreit] vt. 诋毁；使变黑；玷污