Wine and Movies: PARALLEL (2024) Paired With Medium-Bodied Rustic Reds

Wine Trivia Question of the Week:

Today's movie is all about parallel universes. If there were such a thing - and there very well might be, don't be a cynical asshole like Dave - what would be the GREATEST wine grape in ALL universes?

Would it be:

• A) Cabernet Sauvignon
• B) Chardonnay
• C) Pinot Noir
• D) Petite Sirah

To answer this 100% subjective question based on literally nothing factual, and then also to find out the answer as deemed by who-even-fucking-knows? head over to our Substack - VintertainmentStudios.com, find this post on PARALLEL (2024) and cast your vote in the poll, then scroll to the bottom of the post to see if you got it "right".

THE WINES:

Bergmannhof KARL Lagrein Riserva 2020, Alto Aldige, Italy

Calcu Carmenere Gran Reserva, Colchagua Valley, Chile

Chapters

• 1:48 Wine Trivia Question of the Week
• 3:06 Parallel - A Remake Made By "Packaging" Talent
• 11:08 Could You Take Out Your Own "Other"?
• 18:18 Differences Between the Original and this Remake (spoiler free!)
• 29:03 Thoughts on the Ending (again, spoiler free!)
• 32:44 The Importance of Black Representation (Expecially Decision Making)
• 38:34 Dave's Wine Pairing: Lagrein
• 44:38 Dallas' Wine Pairing: Carmenere (plus Camminare Noir)
• 53:54 Wrap Up!
• 1:01:14 Outtakes

Transcript

0:00

Blah blah Mmm, uh Peter Piper picked a pecker pickled peppers a pecker pickled peppers Peter Piper picked. Ooh, I'm not doing that. Okay. Not entertained? It's good time! He's Dave, and I'm Dallas, and this is Ventertainment. We have opinions on just about everything. Sometimes those opinions are spot on. Sometimes they go down easier with a glass of wine. This is entertainment. The wine and entertainment pairing podcast. Welcome back to another wine and entertainment pairing for your Vintertainment. This is of course the podcast where we pair wine with entertainment. It is as simple as that. We always know what we like or dislike, but man, we rarely know why. So what better way to learn about that than by comparing and contrasting different wines to different types of entertainment and see how they hit us and affect us the way that they do. I'm Dave, your W-Set Level 3 Certified Wine Proficient. And I am Dallas, of course, a professional writer and world builder. And now, for the wine trivia question of the week. Today's movie is all about parallel universes. If there was such a thing, and there very well might be, don't be a cynical asshole like Dave, though. What would be the greatest wine grape in all universes? Again, the question is, what would be the greatest wine grape in all universes? Would it be A? Cabernet Sauvignon, B, Chardonnay, C, Pinot Noir, or D, Petite Syrah. Your choices again are Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Petite Syrah. To answer this 100 % subjective question based on literally nothing factual, and then to also find out the answer as deemed by who even fucking knows, Head over to our sub stack, theentertainmentstudios.com, find this post on Parallel 2024 and cast your vote in the poll. Then scroll to the bottom of the post to see if you got it. And can I just say I do not even agree with the answer that is going to be the correct answer. It just is the answer, according to the whole of the Oenophile universe. Or is that universe says also what the fuck is an Oenophile? How is that even spelled so you can Google it? Nope. No, no, no, no, no, no. We're getting off track. So we are here today to discuss parallel universes, parallel movies made in different countries. Parallel Talent, all within a single talent agency, and Parallel Themes that may or may not work all within the same movie we're gonna find out. So we are here to talk about the 2024 movie Parallel, which is a remake of the award-winning 2019 Chinese film Parallel Forest, directed by Lei Sheng. The film was directed, this film Parallel was directed by Koro Shihari. who directed the film The Night and this movie parallel is his second feature film. It was written by actor brothers Aldis and Edwin Hodge alongside Jonathan Kesey who wrote the film's K-Son and My Wife Hates Your Wife which with that title I kind of want to see that one now honestly. Kind of want see it. Though I have not seen either. I kind of do. The film co-stars Aldis. who Aldous Hodge you might know best. was the football player Jim Brown in One Night in Miami and Edwin Hodge from The Tomorrow War and the Two Brothers co-star with leading actress Danielle Deadweiler, objectively the best name ever also. Danielle Deadweiler was the lead in the recent film Till about the mother of 14 year old Edwin Till who was lynched and murdered in 1955 in Missouri for flirting with a white woman allegedly as Dallas likes to say. well no this this one absolutely is not allegedly happened and it was horrible Yes, yes. So she is in the marquee leading role in this film Parallel. All three players are represented by the Paradigm Talent Agency. And the film was produced by Rumble Riot Pictures, Sean Lidiard and Jalen Moore, along with Jonathan Kesey and Anne Sheng of Beijing Pulo Media Co, who was or were the whole company as a whole, was responsible for the original Parallel Forest in China. Now, I could not find any information on how Paradigm came to collaborate with the OG Chinese production company. I'm sure this was just who you knew. Relationships, blah, blah. But they did. And they then packaged this film entirely with their own talent, something that's a little bit on the quote unquote old school, typical. And by old school, I don't necessarily mean like 1940s, but just like old school is in like 90s into the oh 00s. Like packaging films were was very, very standard and typical old school Hollywood. you would have anything from like CAA or William Morris or um you ICM paradigms, one of the big one um artists, what is it? is it? AA artist agency? I'm kind of forgetting our ATA artist talent. UTA, UTA, UTA is what I'm thinking of. So and they would often do the thing where it's like they were already they already they represent writers and directors, they represent actors. And so you would get a script from one of your writers, you would put one of your own directors on it, then you would also put your own actors on it. You would basically package the vast majority of the film in house and you'd be making all the money on this, which is why you wanted to do that. And these days with tent poles being as bloated and insane as they are, this is not something I've seen as much in recent years where everything's coming from the same talent agency anymore. But I think for smaller films, can still be a thing in parallel as a smaller film. Yes, they all packaged this within Paradigm Talent Agency, parallel then shot for 16 days in Vancouver and received the limited theatrical release alongside VOD in February 2024. enough, um this did not at the of marquee level, the A or B level, because of COVID, this is kind of happening a bit more, particularly with the packaging, the ease of packaging a project. ah When you do have everything under the same umbrella, it is so much easier to have everyone on the same accord to then kind of shoot things through. So because of COVID, and I know of a couple of productions that sort of did this. When you've got all the talent, you've got the actors, one of the writers, you've got everything under the same umbrella, it is just immensely easier to move the mountain of a movie. um But yeah, it's uh a curious thing. um I will say for those out there who are, you you haven't made your first movie yet, but you're thinking of it, you have a script or you're a director and you're looking for a script, whatever it is. If you find a script coming through an agency or a management company, ah if you find it, if you're the writer and you find a director coming through an agency or management company, be ready for the fact that they're going that management company or agency, if they want to give you, if they actually give you that script or give you that director. They're then going to have a lot of interest in everything else coming through them as well. So give that some thought if you wind up going that route um and make sure that like they represent talent that you want because they will be pushed. They will probably put some pressure on you to do it. That is one thing you're gonna find is a lot of pressure. So get yourself a good attorney anyway ah the story of parallel follows Vanessa a grief-stricken mother after the loss of a son she shares with husband Alex along with Alex's brother Martel the couple retreats to Alex's dead father's home to cope with their child's death while wandering in the woods Vanessa encounters a terrifying doppelganger a version of herself from a parallel universe And in short order, she stumbles into a mind bending exploration in multiverse paths that may either free her from grief or imprison her forever. The film is a testament to great pre production and planning. And I think it may be a testament to it all. Most of it being under the same banner, under the same umbrella with only three actors and essentially two locations. They've managed to make the world seem much broader and larger, of course, with the multiverse concepts. And speaking of the pre-production process, it was utilized expertly with multiple table reads, character art clarifying sessions that they've spoken of. There's a strong chemistry of vision between Hodge and Ahari that ensured that the production window was used efficiently, which again was 16 cold and rainy days. In the Pacific North one. not the Pacific Northwest. That's the South West of Canada and uh Which there may be some argument that Vancouver might be uh the 51st State on its own accord because it is a great city and I love it. There's so much film industry That's been taking place there in the last decade. Anyway, anyway, I'm a harry even immersed himself in uh the nature of the region in order to enhance the appearance and atmosphere of the forest as a primary character. And when you're watching this film, I think you will be forced to come away or you will come away with the concept that the setting is the fourth character in uh this film. is pulling way above its weight. It is punching heavy. ah It's amazing how deep they sort of dig this plot in just this limited area around this house and the sort of woods. We'll get into more of this later, but it really is kind of a fascinating use of the setting. It is definitely the other primary character in this film. uh The film raises some interesting existential questions like could you take out an altar in order to reclaim some semblance of your former life? So here's a question for you, Dave, and for the rest of you. If you'd like to go to our pages and comment or rant in response at some point, feel free. Could you take out an altar in order to reclaim some semblance of your former life, Dave? And just to explain that to folks, we don't mean an altar like you stand at an altar. Dallas decided to call it an altar, a doppelganger. uh Can you take out? Yes. Can you take out a doppelganger of yourself? OK, so I'm going to answer that. Yes, I could. I don't think I ever would. oh I mean by could I don't even I don't even just mean physically like could I could I overpower myself? It's like I'm it got a 50-50 chance. It's me, right? So one of them on top shirt But what I mean by could is like would I have moral qualms about the other? Me and I don't think too terribly much I think Yeah. If it is just the other you, think there is that sudden gray area of like, are you taking out another person or is it fair game that you take their place in another parallel version of that universe? But one of the things that we're probably going to talk about more about this film thematically is this film follows the main character, Vanessa. As you mentioned, they lost a child and she is broken. from this experience, she blames herself for it. It was an accident, but she was present and didn't stop it and couldn't do anything about it. And that has created this character who can't trust that other people don't blame her themselves. She can't not blame herself. She can't move on from it. She can't let it go. I mean, she's just in a complete. emotional standstill and a complete emotional quagmire that is utterly self destructive and destructive to everyone around her and so on and so forth. So she's looking when she discovers that there are parallel universes in her mind. This is now going to be all about, OK. Can I can I find a parallel universe where I didn't lose my kid? Right. That is like the journey of this. That's truly what she wants to find. And The fun part about this movie is like in almost every case, the movie plays around with a couple of different themes that are interesting. Everyone's mileage is going to vary on how much they think each theme works and each theme works with each other side by side. one of the themes is like in there are things that are out of our comes beyond out of our control versus the things that are our decisions. And if it's something that's our decision, that's where parallel universes get get parallel. in terms of like every universe is a slightly different choice that we have made a slightly different variation. The things that are out of our control seem to be largely universal, where it's like this thing happened in almost every parallel universe. There might not be one that exists where this child did not. You did not lose them or you did. You either lost it or you didn't have a child or it's like there in every one. This child is absent for some way, shape or form in some way, shape or form for some reason. Um, so because of that, here's the thing. In these parallel universes. Yes, could I take out one of my parallels? I think I could. But I'm not sure I would ever see the point in doing so. Because what makes me me versus any of my doubles is exactly what has happened to me. Why would I want to take their place in a universe that wasn't mine? And even if that other universe was like, you know, they're rich, they're famous, everything is going like they made every right decision and you did not. Plainly, you did not because look at them. Look at them. They made the right decisions and you did not. And I'm like, OK, but I also I made those decisions for reasons right. Like I made them. And I don't even if I regret some and there are some that like I wonder what it would be like if I made a different decision, but I don't necessarily regret it because that just was not the path for me. Like I knew it wasn't. I'm not sure I would actually be happier with that path, even though I wonder what it would have been like if I had made a different decision and other things. Most other things in life as well, even if I regret the decision or the thing. It has made me who I am today. that is, I think that's important. just something about parallel universes where it's like, here's another version of you where you did not make these mistakes. And I'm like, yeah, but I did personally. And inhabiting that world where I didn't is it's a little, there's something about that that I'm not sure I would ever want to do it. So I don't think I ever would. But what about you? That is the question of the era, right? On one hand, I probably have no problem if I were in a dire emotional state similar to the one our protagonist is in this film. If I were in this situation, um which is a really intense situation for those who haven't seen the film. Everything happens within the span of guess 72 hours technically. I, yeah, yeah. I could probably say with certain assurity, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I do it, no problem. Sorry other me. No, no, I will say if it was something where I was stuck not being able to return to my other like there there are situations that, you know, it's like choices are no longer in your control, as we were just mentioning about things that are beyond your control. So if there are certain things beyond my control, yes, that decision could change. But if like I had full control, it's like stay in your reality, be you or go somewhere else and take the place of one of your doppelgangers. I'm not taking the place of one of my dockball gangers. That's just weird. I'm like, I'm not going to do it. I like a good story. uh This is this it's a great start i know the story is a great start i don't know about the rest of the black story and i'm gonna be old man but i'm gonna be the old man who's telling everybody you know what happened to me once back in twenty seven uh... and i think i'm little bit somehow you're not committed, right, right, right. So I fall on both sides depending on the circumstances. But I think that's what most people would do if it were, you know, a situation like the protagonist in this film. Yeah, I'd probably I'd probably pull the trigger, so to speak. If all things being equal. No, I'd probably just. I'd let the doppelganger live its life and move on with mine, whatever that meant, you know, so. So oh I was gonna expand upon that and be like, so the twist in this movie without revealing it entirely, but what happens to our main character in her own original reality halfway through the movie? How did you feel about that twist out of curiosity? Did you buy that that could have happened the way it did? And see, this is where it's great if you go and now watch this movie guys and come back and you'll be able to pick up this podcast right where you left off. and know what the fuck we're talking about. not going to reveal it. No spoilers. But no, there is. There's a couple of twists in this movie. It's about parallel universes. Of course, there's going to be twists. And this twist, this was one that was the hardest for me, where I was just like, oh, yikes. I feel like this went this jump. This went a little farther than I thought was really possible with the characters we had already been properly introduced to and it met a new. and we're familiar with and I felt this went a little off the deep end a little too quickly for me. But what did you think about that mid midpoint twist? I'll say this again, I'm of two minds. The passive sort of fan of getting to know the characters in their world and, you know, sort of developing an affection for them. um That version of the viewer was definitely a little taken aback and it sounds like you were too by that. was like, oh, okay, that seems a bit. But out of character. That's what it was. Yeah, but but as a you know when I when I'm thinking about you know things like this from the writer's perspective where the world builder creating all this stuff. I also think that it is such a and unique situation emotionally for the character that very little makes sense, I think, from inside that perspective. so decisions that may normally seem rational or logical probably are skewed a bit. Sure, sure, So I, it's sort of an asterisk, right? It's like, okay, but then again, I don't know. mean, everyone's mileage is going to vary because of that. But I do think like for me, it's just the the death slash killing element. I was like, there's just no reason for it. Like I'm like. I'm like, why? I'm like, it's extreme. And yes, it was a weird like I agree with you that like the situation will make people not trust their own judgment and things like that. But then it still went to a place where I was like, but why this? This is this is a weird. Like you could just, you could do anything. You cannot believe it. You cannot understand it right. But it's like this was, that was kind of weird. there's that part. uh solving in the production. feel that one feels like great. Well, and they need they need to go certain places with it. And I will be curious as far as I can tell Parallel Forest, the Chinese movie is not readily available in the States to watch anywhere. oh watched it. Where did you find it? m on, I think it's on YouTube. Did I watch it on YouTube? I think it's on YouTube. YouTube. OK, OK. I checked streaming services and it was nowhere. So God damn it. Should have checked YouTube. OK, well, hey, guys, I'm damn it. I should have done. uh How did it differ? You know, it's so funny you asked this because I was going to say I was hilarious. I was going to send you a text after I watched it. And I said we still may consider doing this because it it it plants a seed for an idea that I think may be an evolution for what we're doing in the future. um But I loved the idea of a compare and contrast episode between these two films, honestly. um And I think it differed. First of all, tone, the tone is completely different. The tone is OK. The tone in the original film is is so much more. Organic is the wrong word. You know what it is? It's that that yeah, it's that that culture of filmmaking is is it's Actually in a pastoral setting like this. yes. There I can I can I can picture the pacing and the tone and the aesthetic one and very slow moving, brooding, atmospheric, less exciting, right? Right. Less exciting overall in that regard. And you can see how this one was very much like we've got to keep people's attention and yeah. Yeah, yeah, and the Chinese version of this, I'm like, I can see this, that movie not giving two shits about keeping the audience. At all. Yeah. There's one scene where she's just standing, is it just her? One scene where the wife is just standing on the edge of the fucking lake. Just standing on lake, just moving around, just looking around. I was like, yeah, this would be cut in post for sure. But I think the tone is, it's so uniquely Asian cinema in that respect. the sparseness, the sort of There's a vacuous nature that you get in lot of that filmmaking. was what we're just talking about, where moments just allow or allow to kind of sit and exist. And it becomes a secondary character. Like the silence becomes a secondary secondary character. The sort of austere in this kinds of austerity becomes kind of a secondary character. And that is just not a thing in the American version, because again, we, you know, we need it to hit the ground running for audiences, or at least that's the sort of guiding principle. It's like, You can't have any downtime. There's gotta be some action in every frame that moves the, you know, that sort of moves the energy forward. And so I think the biggest glaring difference is the tone, because you actually feel like you're in this space with them. That's not the case with the American version. The setting is great, but it feels more. You know that thing when you're watching a play with a really good set design? it's like the difference between being immersed in an environment versus watching a really good facsimile from a seat. ah That is another sort of difference in these two films. um But I do recommend anyway, you guys go watch the film and Dave, maybe we'll circle back and do a viewing of that film and maybe a brief little contrast. Okay. Because it would be a Yeah. Absolutely. I you know, it's interesting because one of the things we mentioned about this is how the director Ahari He immersed himself in the forest pre-production like he hung out in the forest for like one or two weeks or something like that and just like lived in there to like immerse himself in the area and yet at the same time if you had told me this was all studio sets I would have believed it 100%. oh And I'm like, what is going on? Like that was I felt that was such a I mean, I get it. But at the same time, and I like this movie quite a bit, but at the same time, I was like, that was such a bullshit shitty creative uh thing to be like, am. I wouldn't method for a week. And I'm like, well, it doesn't. And I'm sorry. I'm like, I'm sorry, dude. I like your film, but that part doesn't show. I'm like, I'm not sure what you were supposed to get out of it, immersing yourself in that. But You they and the thing is, is that the forest in this movie is a bit of it. It has a um shape. It has a topography to it because of how you move through it and how you move through it matters for where you're going and which world you're visiting as you go through it. So it sticks very religiously to uh a fairly. uh tight area within that forest that you don't see a lot outside of that and so it feels very set like in that regard where you're like you're seeing the same essential trees and and mounds and hills and from different angles but you it's recognizably the same places over and over again and it's not vast it's not huge it's not like this and I can I imagine in the Chinese version because they have they have so much landscape. And to be fair, Canada does too. don't know. But again, they did this in 16 days in and out. And so they stuck very close to probably the few places they were shooting. But yeah, something about this did feel very studio set like rather than being immersed in nature. And to their credit, will say that um thinking of it from another mind, from a production perspective, it was very smart. It was probably cost effective. It didn't necessarily detract from the film whatsoever, but you can sort of tell that they had a very fixed uh amount of real estate to work with, and they used it well, almost expertly to accomplish the goal. But in terms of atmosphere, in terms of sort of an immersive feeling, and I'm only saying this because when I compare the original film, that is sort of the glaring difference, one of the glaring differences. ah And there's a part of me that thinks, well, if they could have pulled that off with this film, it would have elevated it so much more. Not that it needed it, because it is a very well-done film. The well-written, well-executed, well-acted, all the things. ah But when I'm comparing and contrasting, I do If there was an area where I'm like, I wish I had a little bit more, would be that area. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And so now what do we think? And you can tell me also about the way it does. Does the ending of this movie differ from the Chinese ending? Um. Little but oh, it's so interesting. Oh, this is fun. Okay. Yeah, you got to watch the other movie now exactly want to discuss these Yeah, this is gonna be good. Yeah. Okay. Well, yeah, we'll circle back around Well, now now this ending then what it what are your feelings about this ending and I ask because This was probably my biggest beef with the movie. Really enjoyed the ride all the way up to the end even like the final moments like where everything was good, but then what they allowed to have happen at the very end I was like metaphorically It's basically our main character completely succumbing to her psychosis and to her fantasy and to her like leaving all of life behind just to have the things she couldn't let go of. And I'm like, this is not a great end. mean, it's not an ending that satisfied me and it made me hate the main character all the more. and kind of just be like, wow, there's nothing really redeeming in this ending. It's as a message and as a theme, it's kind of bad and terrible. But what do you have any different thoughts on this? I think the ending made sense to everyone involved. m it makes sense. mean, the ending does make sense. It just feels like a weird kind of payoff where it's like everything from a character arc perspective and especially as a metaphorical character arc perspective and like thematically where it's like, here's this person in this state trying and everyone trying to get her to reconnect back to life and come out. And the only thing that makes that happen is this utter fantasy of The thing she's been longing for since a bad thing happened. That's the only way to say that, I guess. Yeah, and just getting it back and it's like doing none of the work to like get through it any other way and I'm like, huh? I mean again from a character standpoint. I'm like, that's not a great arc like that That's a shitty arc. In fact where it's just like why you you're just like, okay, You just got what you got the impossible thing you wanted in kind of the worst way possible and you're happy And you're just because you lost everything else in order to get it. Like you sacrificed everything else in order to get it all. Everyone else in order to get it. And it's like, damn, this is not like I'm not happy with that ending. I say. It did it seemed a little cheap and easy um From a character standpoint, but then again when you think about You know the state of the character if that thing she'd been longing for was dropped in her lap no, no. Yeah, she would go for it. But I'm not I'm not talking about it's unbelievable from a character standpoint. I'm just saying it is like going back to the writer who has full control over where this story goes. Oh, yeah. right. To be the ending. I'm like, that's a bad ending. Like that is an ending that like really just sort of like wipes your bum with all the main themes of this movie. And you're just like, huh. And complete fantasy and this character like If you think about this for more than 10 seconds, this is a god awful like this. There's nothing redeeming about this ending, like literally nothing. And so it's a bit of a it's a bit of a problem child in that regard. So all right. So Dallas, the Hodge brothers, right? Aldous Nedwin, this this is their production company that that co-produced this film. And they've been actively engaged in the sci fi spaces with with this production company, which works to, quote, amplify black voices in the sci fi space. So, you know, there's this other podcast, Black Men Can't Jump in Hollywood, where they look at films. You're familiar. OK, perfect. They look at films with black performers and or have a black creator behind the direction or script or both. And they always look at, know, they talk about the film and they always ask the question at the very end. Did this help the cause of black creatives in Hollywood? And if so, how? So is this like a thumbs up? It did. Thumbs in the middle, where it's just kind of treading water, or thumbs down, where it probably maybe even hurt the perception of black creators or black performers. Usually if it's a thumbs down, it tends to be like just a, act, like, you know, it's a lead actor. No one else involved was black. And so it's like, Yeah, I don't know if this is the best representation we could have asked for kind of a thing, you know. um But what do you think about this movie? If the Aldous Brothers production company is meant to amplify black voices and sci fi? Did this movie do that? And to what extent do you think? Yes, absolutely 100 % I generally have a slightly different take or I should say when I have these conversations About sort of blackness particularly in sci-fi spaces or spaces that you know black voices have traditionally been Sparse or scarce in My take is this every brick in the road matters everyone Every brick in the road matters. Meaning blackness traditionally has been associated with a black face on the screen or a black body on the screen or digging into some concept that is traditionally associated with or reminiscent or mirrors black culture. And unfortunately, what that does is relegate blackness to its visual. it's sound, it's cultural representations, rather than ah the actual baseline, which is, ah you know, sort of creativity, the movement, the production, the decision making, you know, unfortunately, the word is there, the words are there, but the gatekeepers. um unfortunately, if we're trying to have a conversation, or fortunately, about blackness and its representation in sci-fi or in film and television. ah It is often relegated unintentionally by the general populace, but intentionally sometimes by the gatekeepers to ah the black representation on screen. And that's always been a problem for me. ah Because if you are forcing blackness to remain behind the mantle of talent, ah then those actual gains in market share, those actual gains in representation uh behind the gate, uh behind the desk uh with the ability to make or break a production, uh we never get anywhere substantively. And uh for me, A black film is a black film ah if there is a black person involved in the decision making process, the world building, the writing, the creating, the editing. It counts as a black film. So when I say things like every brick in the road matters, every fucking brick in the road matters. And building that solid foundation where black cinema, whatever that may be, sort of you know, pantheon of black cinema gets to exist in an equal share to an equal share that white cinema and yes, I said white cinema because if there's black cinema, then guess what, there got to be white cinema, guys. And we just don't call it that because everybody gets offended and you know, it's it's uh it's synonymous with mainstream, right? Exactly, exactly. So if substance of change is supposed to happen and we are able to then see stories that are told about black, quote unquote, black experiences, black, the sort of, you know, the universe, multiverses of black experiences, uh then, you know, every brick in the road must fucking matter. So the answer is yes, this does effectively. uh count uh as a positive, as a pro in that argument of whether or not this counts as blackness or black film or whatever that guiding sort of argument. or advancing the perception of black film. those. Yeah, absolutely. You know, the Hodge brothers have been doing a great job. And as a matter of fact, I think I have a script I want I definitely want to send them at some point. It's a smaller budget thing. I generally write massive sort of stuff, but it it it's what they're doing is necessary. And I wish more of us were able to do it. And I think, you know, it's definitely a step in the right direction. So yeah. All right. All right. So that's good. Today, today. There's always tomorrow. So today, let's talk about the wine pairing. What are we pairing with parallel? And I'll go ahead and kick us off here. So I think it's interesting reading your notes. We both actually had an easy time. with this one. This was not a hard movie to pair with. And interestingly, we both kind of chose something in a very similar vein, in a very similar little camp in terms of like overall structure and flavor profile and what we thought went well with this. uh I'm to say what I paired with it, then I'll explain this a little bit. But I chose, I have this bottle. This is a bottle made from a grape called Le Grain. L A G R E I N, Legrane, Legrane. I'm going to say Legrane. I actually have zero idea how to pronounce it. It is a rare indigenous red grape from the Alto Aldi area of Italy, Northern Italy. But this is the Bergman Hoff Carl Legrane Reserva 2020 Alto Aldi, Italy, pure 100 % Legrane. Le Grain, as mentioned, it's indigenous to the Alto Adige. It is related to Syrah and is an offspring directly of the Terroldego grape, which is another grape that is a little bit, an indigenous grape to Italy that's a little bit better known. um Believe it or not, lot of you are like, Terro what now? But Terroldego is a little bit better known. Le Grain is something that is even less known. Le Grain, it contains some of that meaty, gamey, peppery quality that Syrah can display and that it's very infamous for. And while maintaining, it also has this very obvious balance. It is very medium. It's very medium everything. It's medium acidity. It's medium fruitiness and quote unquote sweetness on the palate. It's medium body. It's medium tannins. It's medium alcohol. This thing is 13.5 % as a red. which is very tame, especially for the modern era. ah is a controlled amount of alcohol. It is somewhat rustic. It's got that medium tannin, so it feels like a little bit of a deep rustic red wine, but it is complete and satisfying while never being too much. You can just drink and drink and drink this guy, and while it still has some depth and it's still got some punch to it. So because of, you know, let's talk about northern Italy and Alto Adige. This is a it has a unique history and a unique location within the southern Alps and Dolomites. So it is a certain amount of an alpine climate in this region. And the region grows a wide range of great varieties that are not usually seen in other parts of Italy. These include you. You saw the German writing on this bottle. Mueller Thurgao, uh Versnach, Le Grain. Sylvanner, Riesling, which in Italy is actually called Riesling Ranano. That is something I did not know that they call it name Riesling Ranano when they have it in Italy. A Gewurztraminer, also known in Italy as Traminer Aromatico. And then a grape I've never heard of called Blatterle, or B-L-A-T-T-E-R-L-E, which is a new one for me. It's got cooler climates mixed with Mediterranean summers that help craft these wines that respond best to mixed cooler and significantly warmer months all combined. Bergmanhoff, the winery here is a winery located in the Eppan-Andervainstrob locale, which yes, is still in Italy despite all the German going on there. So this region actually, 85 % of the population speaks German and only 15 % speak Italian, but still. technically in Italy. So you've got a whole Alpine region, you'll border Switzerland, Germany, Italy, it's all kind of all mixed in there. So you get you get a very mixed demographic. And this wine fermentation on the skins in large open wood barrels undergoes malolactic fermentation then aged in barrels or tonneau tonal, however you pronounce that for 18 months, bottled untreated and unfiltered. Then maturation in the bottle for at least another six months before being released. So this thing unfiltered, unfined 18 months of oak. So it definitely has a spiciness and a pepperyness to it from that. That this grape is very apparently it'll grain is known if you give it oak, it's going to get peppery. That is one of the things that happens. So I really wanted the depth and meatiness of this red to pair with the intensity of the movie. But also as mentioned, this is a wine of balance and the film. is all about characters seeking balance. And they're sifting through parallel universes to find the happiness and the center that they've been missing in their own universe. So I thought a wine that was like that, was easy drinking. This film is, it's convoluted, but it's not hard. It's not hard to watch. It's challenging in certain ways, but not challenging in a, do I like it, do I not? mean, it's well-made. The story just flows. You do not have to keep track of the convolution of jumping from parallel universe or how they're traversing it and the pseudo science going on that make it all work. I think they thought it through and they put together a schematic that does actually work that is complicated, kind of like watching primer, but unlike primer, you don't actually have to follow it. You don't have to keep track of it. You can just like let it flow and let it go and it works perfectly well. So. I wanted a wine that wasn't too challenging to have that balance but still had some depth. And interestingly, that spiciness, that smokiness from the oak on Le Grain and that sort of like mediumness of it, this is actually gonna play into what Dallas has got here too. So Dallas, what's your wine pairing for this one? All right, let's see here. All right. OK, so this one definitely was, I think, a fun pairing for me, for sure. I knew I wanted something that was full and maybe sort of herbaceous, um somewhere between maybe a cabsov and a syrah, ah if you guys have that in your mind. Mostly because I think this film feels a bit like a successful experiment. and what I mean is it feels as if when they were thinking of this film, they got the original inspiration from, uh, the Chinese version, right? And then the, the work of trying to figure out how to, um, translate, we'll say translate that for American audiences. but culturally, I guess, in terms of the narrative and story, um, the sort of consumption patterns of the American audiences. ah And as we talked about earlier, the primary difference, of course, was the atmosphere. um And in the American version, they hit the ground running because guess what, guys? That's what we tell them we want with our dollars over and over and over again. We want fare that hits the ground running, that has very little downtime between beats. Every scene has to be doing or adding something. There's got to be this sort of kinetic energy that's consistent um right or wrong. That's just kind of what the powers that be try to replicate for audiences. And um I think this was successful in that they did manage to take this original content, uh this original IP and translated successfully to American audiences for very specific things and reasons. uh Not unlike you'd find with lots of universities that are specializing in viticulture and ecology when they're trying to, you know, find or create uh drought resistant strains or grapes or like Pierce disease, which is Pierce's disease, which we'll talk about here in a moment. This will all come together in a minute. Just stick with me. Dave sitting there like, like, he's got all the information. Where are going? ah But I will say this. Everything in the film plays well and there are no real deficiencies as we said. There are things that we definitely don't necessarily agree with, uh but there are no real deficiencies in the filmmaking here. uh And with that original kind of desire to have something between a Capsov and a Seurat, uh I went with a Carmonier, uh which if anyone's familiar ah is your uh Chilean, usually Chilean uh root. grape done in the Bordeaux style. Correct me if I'm wrong day, right? Yeah. Nope, absolutely. As we all know from last week's wine trivia question of the week where we asked what was the parent, what Porto grapes did Cabernet Franc birth besides Cabernet Sauvignon and it turned out to be Merlot and Carminere. And fun fact, the Chileans thought they were growing Merlot for the longest time. They didn't even know it was Carminere until the 1990s. I was on a wine bidding site the other month, this is a couple of months back. and they had a full like a magnum size 1985 Chilean Merlot quote unquote, right? And so 1985 they still thought it was Merlot. so the dollars to donuts, they did not grow Merlot in Chile. It was all Carmen here. And it wasn't until they DNA tested it that they realized what they had done. Merlot and Carmen here both have the same parent crepe, Cabernet Franc. They have that little bit of green peppery note in there. Now, Carmineur does tend to be smokier and a bit peppery than Merlot. So that's kind of its distinction. But yeah, go ahead, take it from there. And you know it you get with the carmere you get all the red fruits you get the spices you get the herbs you get the green pepper which Depending on the bottle can definitely be a kind of acute at least for me um And I tend to enjoy that um Let's see oak aging generally you'll find um and after Tasting a couple to see what fit I settled on this guy here notes where my notes where my notes where my notes where my notes where my notes where my notes there they are cut this part out Dave I didn't have this in there I always do the less you talk while you're just be silent, it's easier to edit. uh I chose the 2022 Calcu Carmonier Grand Reserve Colchagua Valley from the Colchagua Valley. is very fruity, of course, very abacious. um It apparently comes from a clay soil and often the clay is mixed in with a quartz, um which uh I don't think it's necessarily that uncommon, but it definitely features in all the sort of reviews and ratings for this wine. m What else we got? It is again like here's a 13.5 percent uh It's very very curious. This one has some capsaicin in it um So you get that pepper? It's cute. It's a little more And this one, don't forget, we looked it up and it was 5 % cabfranc is in there as well. So you've got that extra amount of capsaicin because cabfranc will have even more than carmineyer. But carmineyer does have some with cabfranc being its parents. So yeah, it's all in this. right. And, you know, when I went down this rabbit hole to kind of compare and contrast and find something that fit a bit better than the last bottle, like I said, I settle on this, um, uh, Colco, but I came across an article for UC Davis. If you guys don't know, UC Davis is part of the university system here in California, and they have, uh, a bit of culture and ecology department and many, many colleges and universities do. But this one seems to I don't know if specialized in California's wine grape culture, but a lot of their work, of course, tends to focus on the California wine culture and its problems. And a really big issue is called Pierce's disease. And if you don't know, Pierce's disease is a serious grape vine malady, which manifests with distinct symptoms, primarily affecting the leaves and fruit and ultimately impacting the overall vine health. Key indicators include leaf scorching, where the leaf margins turn yellow or red and brown, often with a yellow halo, and eventually dry out and fall off. The fruit clusters will also shrivel and raisin prematurely. uh And you get this match stick effect attached to the cane after the leaf drops. um And in 2019, it ah was responsible for almost $100 million of loss in value for the California wine system. So it's a big problem. not the only problem that the California wine system faces. And luckily, UC Davis is there kind of at the forefront. But they specialized for a couple of years in trying to create uh Pierce-resistant strains or varietals. And they eventually settled on five that were effective. ah And there were two whites and uh three reds. And one of the reds specifically caught my attention. It is called the Camanaire, that is C-A-M-M-I-N-A-R-E, Noir. It has characteristics of both Cab Solve and Petite Syrah. It is a dark red, purple color, bright red fruit raspberry. It's very tannic, but other than that, it seems to be very elegant and dense. And a few of the bottles seem to have made it to market since they were released for review in 2019. Also, there's this thing that happens in the and Ecology, when they come up with these sort of creations, they will send them out to certain planters of vineyards to experiment with. ah And uh that's fascinating to me. ah I would love to have found one or two of these small vineyards who planted maybe a hectare or a couple of acres and just sort of experimented with it. So if anyone out there knows anyone who is lucky enough to be a recipient of some of these grapes over the years, is experimenting and you want a couple of people to come and annoy you with questions and tasting your work, then let us know. Otherwise, ah yeah, that's my pairing. That is my pairing. Beautiful. Yeah, it does not appear that that chem, chem, chem, chem, chem, chem, cheminaire noir is available to the public really, even though it's made it to market. Like I just did a quick Google search and like shopping and I'm like, nope, nope, not really available anywhere. So it's not not for not for the common folk like us folks. We got to just let the experiment keep going. All right, guys. So that has been this episode of Parallel from twenty twenty four. Go out there, go watch this movie. It's available on VOD for streaming. I don't believe it's free to stream anywhere, but you can rent it. You can buy it. Support Indie Film. God damn it. Go give them a little bit of money. Rent it. You remember rental stores? You remember back in the day when you used to go in there and like check? This is the movie you would check off a rental shelf. And guys, go to Fandango, go to Amazon, go to Apple, and not the free streamer, but where you can buy or rent. rent. It gives money. It gives more money directly to the people who made the movie if you rent or buy on digital, then if you buy a movie ticket, which so much less actually makes it back to them on this. It's so so funny you say that because the other night I we were looking to go to the theater to watch a film in theaters and Unfortunately, the time didn't line up and the tickets of course were fucking 20 bucks each and finally I was like, a minute. Okay. I don't want to chase this showtime Let me see if I can find something online and pay the fucking four dollars. First of all, it's just four dollars I would have gone out and paid forty dollars fifty dollars for two people to see a movie I'm going spend that $4 on the streamer and just make sure that some of the money is put back into the ecosystem of independent film. think of it that way, guys, especially you analog people who out there who remember renting at video stores like, know, where you're to say that. Now to be fair, if it was actually only $4 while it was in theaters, that is not giving me- Yeah, yeah, okay, okay. Cool, cool, cool. I'm like, while it's in theaters, renting it will also be $19.99. That's right. You know, for that. But then parallel right now, I believe is gonna be like $6.99 or whatever the normal, or$4.99, whatever the normal rental price is, but that's gonna give them $3 back into their pocket versus, and every time you rent, they're going to make money and you don't have to worry about, but I don't own it because you're renting it. You're not. purchasing it. So it's just like renting it from the video store. You never worried about whether you owned it or not when you rented it because that's the point of renting it. So go back. Remember the days when you could browse rental shelves and rent something because it's bizarre how little we talk about renting on actual VOD purchase platforms when that is your video store shelf. That is it. Rent something like in the old days that we used to love and you will be supporting indie film. You will be supporting film in general. It's not just theaters. I don't know what the subsession with just theaters is, but it's kind of BS. Renting is going to support it probably even more if you can remember that that exists and that you can enjoy it that way. Rent people and thanks for coming to our Ted Talk. Yes, thanks for coming to our TED Talk. go watch Parallel and check out these wines once again. Mine is Bergmanhoff Karel, Lagerin, L-A-G-R-E-I-N, Lagerin or Lagerin, Reserva 2020 from the South Tyrol DLC Alto Adige. And Dallas, one more time, yours is? It is the 2022 Calcou Carmonaire, Grand Reserve from the cold Chagua Valley. can find this at K &L by the way guys. If you don't know what K &L is, it is a merchant here on the West Coast. They have locations in the, what have we got? Hollywood, Burbank, I think San Francisco, few places. Culver City, yeah, not Burbank. It's just Hollywood, Culver City, San Francisco, and Redwood City. And you can order online. They will ship anywhere, so you can also do that. But then we have physical locations there. Anyway, these lines tend to seem to be kind of out there. They're available in a number of places. So give it a Google search. We'll have a link down below. And thanks for listening, everybody. Please make sure to hit that follow or subscribe button. That really, we really appreciate that. It helps this podcast grow. Leave a review and a rating. really algorithms love that it'll start showing us to other people that also consume media like this. So if you like what we do want to support us that is the best way to support us. Also recommend this to a friend or family member recommend this to anyone who you think will like this parallel movie and they can come listen to what we say about it. Anyone who will like wines like we just talked about these sort of nice balanced medium body reds recommended to that. ah Then they'll know about checking out the le grain and the carmen year from a chip from the calchug valley in Chile and Let's see what a low sub stack make sure to follow some subs. Oh god entertainment studios comm is where a sub stack is that's also where you got to go and vote in the poll to see if you get this week's wine trivia question of the week right you're gonna vote in the poll and then scroll down to the bottom where you will see the full answer and deeper description of why we thought whatever grape was grape in all parallel universes. We're gonna see how that arguments. uh Expect arguments. But go check that out, guys. And then while you're there at our sub stack of entertainment studios calm, you can also become a paid member and support this podcast with two bucks a month. That helps to pay all the bills all the services we need to distribute this podcast to get the equipment that we need. to all the time and commitment that we do to this podcast and the write ups on entertainment studios.com. If you become a paid subscriber, you also get access to our pairing directories, which historically record all the wine and entertainment pairings we have done since we began this whole shebang and will continue to do so that is only available to paid subscribers two bucks a month $19 and 60 cents a year or if you're a big time spender and you want to spend $50 a year, 50 bucks per year. makes you a produce er of of this podcast where you get to commission an episode, tell us what it is we're going to cover. And you get a shout out on every episode. So on that note, our three first produce errs. Thank you so much, Paul Kalamkiari and the podcaster of Paul Wine Talks with Paul K. He's old school. He's been doing this for a long, time. His podcast is amazing, better than ours. So if you like this, go check out his um That is Paul Callum-Kyarian, Wine Talks with Paul K. Also Jessica Mayson of MonsteroftheWeek.substack.com. has her own sub stack. She is a graphic novelist and novelist extraordinaire, horror, fantasy, sci-fi. She does it all. She's amazing. Jessica Mayson, thank you for being a producer. And Kate Ruschel of survivesonwine.substack.com. She is a Portuguese wine expert and she does these amazing visual tasting notes on her sub stack of wine. Go check that out. Thanks so much to our first three producers and we will be back in one week with another one in entertainment pairing for your entertainment. Ciao for now everybody. Catch you next week. Later guys. I was oh yeah, if I was listening to a podcast, I'd be like, take out an altar? I'm like, what are we even talking about? Very smart enough to get to connotation, denotation, and secondary. You heard it here first guys. You see what Dave thinks. are our listeners. Yeah, these are our listeners. Hell no. And they have wine in hand. You're right. I interact with them online. OK, these are our listeners. uh