By Jake Coyle, AP Film Writer
The wine movie is not exactly known for a bouquet of tasting notes. From "Wine Country" to "Bottle Shock," they are usually light, amiable movies that amble through sunny fields of vines. "Sideways," of course, is the choice vintage, but most come and go about as quickly and breezily as a bottle of pinot.
"Uncorked," the directorial debut of veteran TV writer Prentice Penny, also has a relaxed vibe but it brings some new elements to the table. For starters, it's not about white people. That alone makes "Uncorked," which debuts Friday (3/27) on Netflix, a rare varietal. Mamoudou Athie stars as Elijah, a young black man in Memphis who doesn't want to take over his father's barbecue restaurant. He wants to be a sommelier.
This is far from an expected career path. When Elijah announces his intentions at dinner, one family member hears "Somalia" and wonders why he wants to get involved with pirates. But his ambition is earnest, even if his father, Louis (Courtney B. Vance), is skeptical.
Elijah's passion attracts others. For a young woman (Sasha Compere) shopping for a bottle, he supplies a hip-hop analogy, comparing chardonnay to Jay-Z, pinot grigio to Kanye West and riesling to Drake. (It remains unclear where Ol' Dirty Bastard would fit on this spectrum.) They begin dating just as Elijah starts prepping for the master sommelier test (which, in reality, is so impossibly hard that virtually no one passes) with a study group of new friends.
Elijah stands out in this world but "Uncorked" doesn't overemphasize it. Instead of going for a broad fish-out-of-water tale, Penny grounds the movie on the relationship between Elijah and his father. The actors help considerably. Both veteran Vance and Athie, a talented newcomer, imbue the film with a vivid emotional honesty. And the family scenes are warmly intimate, including those between Louis and his wife, Sylvia (Niecy Nash).
Penny, the showrunner for the exceptional HBO series "Insecure," has — true to the genre — penned an easy-pouring tale that won't overwhelm anyone by its dramatics. But the pleasures of "Uncorked" are in how it gently eludes stereotype and brings a rich sense of texture to even its smaller moments.
There are other movies about the finest pours — like Ken Loach's "The Angel's Share," about poor young Scots and high-priced whisky — that revolve around the high and low of taste. "Uncorked" goes a different direction, taking time to savor not just its cabernets but its Memphis barbecue. There's little difference between the craft of the wine in "Uncorked" and the art with which Louis, who's seen shopping for just the right wood for his smoker, fires his meats.
All of which is to say, in these quarantined times, be sure you have a decent bottle left in the cupboard or a good rack of ribs in the freezer before pressing play on "Uncorked."
"Uncorked," a Netflix release, is not rated by the Motion Picture Association of America. Running time: 104 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.
Review: Writer-Director Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance”
In its first two hours, "The Substance" is a well-made, entertaining movie. Writer-director Coralie Fargeat treats audiences to a heavy dose of biting social commentary on ageism and sexism in Hollywood, with a spoonful of sugar- and sparkle-doused body horror.
But the film's deliciously unhinged, blood-soaked and inevitably polarizing third act is what makes it unforgettable.
What begins as a dread-inducing but still relatively palatable sci-fi flick spirals deeper into absurdism and violence, eventually erupting — quite literally — into a full-blown monster movie. Let the viewer decide who the monster is.
Fargeat — who won best screenplay at this year's Cannes Film Festival — has been vocal about her reverence for "The Fly" director David Cronenberg, and fans of the godfather of body horror will see his unmistakable influence. But "The Substance" is also wholly unique and benefits from Fargeat's perspective, which, according to the French filmmaker, has involved extensive grappling with her own relationship to her body and society's scrutiny.
"The Substance" tells the story of Elisabeth Sparkle, a famed aerobics instructor with a televised show, played by a powerfully vulnerable Demi Moore. Sparkle is fired on her 50th birthday by a ruthless executive — a perfectly cast Dennis Quaid, who nails sleazy and gross.
Feeling rejected by a town that once loved her and despairing over her bygone star power, Sparkle learns from a handsome young nurse about a black-market drug that promises to create a "younger, more beautiful, more perfect" version of its user. Though she initially tosses the phone number in the trash, she soon fishes it out in a desperate panic and places an order.
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