PORTO (2017) - Paired with Ancient Portuguese Winemaking

Honoring the 10th Anniversary of actor Anton Yelchin's passing in 2016 at the insanely young age of 27. PORTO was released posthumously, and since our own Dave Baxter recenty visited the city of Porto for the first time, and currently sells Portuguese wines in LA as his day job, this seemed like a perfect choice for us to tackle.

This is a challenging film, equal parts mesmerizing and frustrating, a film that plays with time, rejects psychology, yet is confined to a magical evening between a French woman and an American man in Northern Portugal.

THE WINES:

2010 Jose Maria de Fonseca “Alambre” Moscatel de Setubal, Portugal

2022 Bojador Vinho de Talha Branco, Alentejo, Portugal

Transcript

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I have the pleasure of knowing Mr. Anton Yelchin. So this episode is in honor of him, 10 years after his passing in 2016, when he was just 27 years old. Anton is perhaps best known as Pavel Chekhov in the J.J. Abrams rebooted Star Trek movies. That's what he's going to be best known to most people, I think. ah He first hit most people's radar. as the main teen actor in 2001's Hearts in Atlantis opposite Anthony Hopkins. That's the one that was based loosely on a Stephen King novella. And then roles followed for him in movies like Alpha Dog, Charlie Bartlett and Terminator Salvation. He was the new John Connor in that one, as did his role in Star Trek. But in his 20s, he found himself fearing towards independent cinema and wanting to work with the greats of previous eras. such as Paul Schrader and Nick Cage in Dying of the Light, Joe Dante in Burying the Ex, and Vidhu Vinod Chopra in Broken Horses. Then also up and coming indie talents like Jeremy Saulnier in Green Room. For those who haven't seen Green Room, that's an amazing one. He's opposite Patrick Stewart. Patrick Stewart's a white supremacist. And Anton leads a band that has to fight their way out of a bar that the white supremacists have taken over after they play a gig there. So everyone go check out that one. Also, Michael Amarita in the two movies Symboline and Experimenter in that order. And then Gabe Klinger in the film we're going to talk about today, Porto. Now, I know Anton because I got to be part of a short film that he was in by another incredible talent. The short film was Kiss Kiss Finger Bang. by Gillian Wallace Horvat, one of the funniest writer directors I know still to this day, one of the funniest writer directors I know. during this time uh when he met Gillian, Anton would often frequent the arthouse cinemas of LA, the New Beverly, the Egyptian, et cetera. He would often befriend cinephiles. He was just very open, very friendly. And also those aforementioned up and coming indie talents. This was how he met Gillian and through her myself as well. So my kitty at the time, Kumite, she got to co-star in Jillian's short film, opposite Anton Yelchin. uh And Kumite was an amazing screen cat. She had to be in the short film. She had to be in this vet's office while the vet, played by the legendary Buck Henry, also RIP in this episode, um Buck would give her a checkup. And she just sat there in her little Buddha cat pose. Everyone knows that one, like a chicken warming her eggs kind of a thing. And the crew even broke for a food break. This was an overnight shoot, so I don't know what to call this break. Certainly not lunch, but they broke for whatever the wee small hour of the morning version of lunch is. And they did that for a full 45 minutes and Kumatai just sat there in her Buddha pose on the vet table and never moved. The crew came back and new takes were shot and Kitty never budged an inch the entire process through. I remember the crew being like, holy shit, we can just like. literally pick up and the cat's still there. No one had to pick her back up. I didn't have to put her back in her carrier. I went over and petted her and like made, you know, made soothing sounds and all that fun stuff. But once she was in place, she just like hunkered down and was kind of I'm sure she was like not happy, happy, but she was happy enough. She wasn't looking to like slink away. She was going to run. So in that sense, she is a perfect movie cat. Now, don't ask her to actually do anything. She's probably the worst movie cat in the world if something active is called for. But anywho. Anton's starred in that short Kiss Kiss Finger Bang opposite another actress, Caitlin Sheil, also a great indie talent. Go check out She Dies Tomorrow from Twenty Twenty to see her in action or the short Kiss Kiss Finger Bang you can find online. I believe I believe it is still a Vimeo short of the week and you can find that online. And this short did go on to win the jury award at South by Southwest that year. And afterwards, I had a script. by another up and coming indie talent, Calvin Reader. directed the films The Oregonian and The Rambler starring Dermot Mulroney. So he had this incredible yet bat shit script, which is basically the only kind of script that Calvin ever had. But he had this incredible yet bat shit script that would have been a perfect repartnering between Anton and Nick Cage, something they both wanted to do since Schrader's Dying of the Light, the one I mentioned before. The producers took that from Schrader and recut it against his will. And when the movie was released, both the director and both stars, Anton and Nick, just disowned the movie, like when it was being released. So this was not even well after the fact. This was like they were very vocal about how they were not supportive of the movie at the time. So was kind of a shit show in that way. But they loved working together, both with Schrader and with each other. So they were very much looking to do it again. Now, I can still picture what an incredible film that would have meant. And there's no guarantee, of course, that Anton would have done it or cage, but Anton had agreed to read it. Unfortunately, in June 2016, for those of you who do not know the story, Anton drove his Jeep Grand Cherokee up into his steep, driveway of his home. When he exited, he walked down the driveway to check the mail at his home, like the little pillory gate that kind of was the entrance to his driveway. And the Jeep rolled back down the incline, ultimately striking Anton and pinning him against one of the stone pillars. He was found the next day after he failed to show up for a rehearsal. Police identified the cause as, quote, blunt traumatic asphyxia, unquote. Anton was again, just 27. There was a defect with his car. The model had experienced a high number of, quote, unquote, rollaway incidents due to a gear shift design that made it difficult for the operator to know if the car was in park or still in gear. The FCA had already recalled all the unsold models in April of that year. But the software patch to repair the owned and operated vehicles did not arrive to the dealers until the very week of Anton's death. And the notice for him to get the patch repair arrived in the same mailbox right where he passed very shortly, I believe roughly one week after the fact. Following the incident, the FCA accelerated the recall campaign and took steps to get the affected jeeps repaired more quickly than originally planned, you think. It's sad that it takes a famous person passing for something like that to happen, because this, of course, was a a uh the incidents were frequent. But. Porto, the movie that we're here to discuss today and pair some honorary wines with all honorary to Anton is one of the many films released posthumously. I'd never seen it. I'd never seen any of the movies that had been released to this day. Porto is now the first. But when you've known someone and then they start releasing the films after they're gone, that is not something that's easy to do. So I did not. I couldn't quite bring myself to go watch those movies at the time, all within kind of a year, year and a half of his passing. But now I thought, you know, these are a lot of films that um I really am curious about and I really do want to see. And Porto, it just got a brand new 4K release from Kino Lorber just the last month. So I figured now was a good time to give it a whirl. Remember the man that I used to briefly know. And since I just went to the city of Porto in Portugal for the first time myself last month, and I currently sell Portuguese wines here in L.A. And this is a podcast where we pair wine with movies. It seemed that this was the one that was most fitting of all the posthumously released Anton films to pull the trigger on. So folks strap in, raise a glass to Mr. Anton Yelchin and get ready to talk some wine and- 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 why. Heron Podcast. All right, change of tone. Welcome, everybody, to Vintertainment. This is, of course, the podcast where we pair wine with entertainment. It is as simple as that. And before we get to the movie, it is, of course, time for our wine trivia question of the week. So, Dallas, Porto. It's a city where all port is vinified and aged, though the grapes can come from throughout the larger Duaro area where the city of Porto is placed, but it has to be aged in the city of Porto. Now, Port was accidentally invented by the British when they poured spirits into Duaro wines to help them survive the journey to England, mostly because the seas in that exact part where they have to sail between Porto and England are so hot that like they needed something to help preserve them. So the high alcohol content stopped fermentation in the in the still, you know, developing wines and which kills the yeast, that high alcohol, and left behind a sugary, sweet, yet still boozy fortified dessert wine that the Brits then loved. But why were the Brits so keen to trade with Portugal in the first place when the wines required fortification to survive such a trip? Was it A, they were angling for new lands to establish their own wine brands? which they would eventually do is all the major port houses are today owned by the British and or other Europeans. B, they fucking hated the Spanish. So minimize trading with them. C, they fucking hated the Italians. So same. Or D, they fucking hated the French and so same. Uh, let's see. So yes, they would go on to dominate the wine brand space here with the fortified fortified wines, I suppose. So that is technically true. They didn't love the Spaniards, but I know if they hated them that much. This is out of time. Of course, of course, not today. The Italians, eh, the Italians at that point, I suppose, aren't really an issue. True. um But they did have continuing issues with the French, think, particularly with embargoes and ah taxes. um So it's either for me, A or D. and I'm gonna flip the coin in my head and go D because they fucking hated the French. Correct. Our non wine expert got a wine trivia question right. I always love it when that happens, honestly. So yes, they were they had trade. I think most history books or articles written about it usually refer to it as something like trade tensions were high between France and England at the time. And so they were looking elsewhere for their wine and Porto, Portugal just happened to have a lot of very good and very pretty cheap too. um So they could get it. They had good relations with the Portuguese, but shipping it to England was a pain in the butt because of the high, high temperatures in those seas. And so they had to come up with something because they could go to Porto and drink the wines and be like, these are amazing. Go to the Duaro and be like, we love these. We want to get them home. And they'd be spoiled every single time they'd be cooked. by the time they got them home. um And then they tried the fortification method and it turned and they discovered something amazing, a completely on dessert wine was not what they were aiming for. They were just trying to preserve the dry wine. But instead, they got a fortified dessert wine. And to this day, most port, most of the big port houses, guys. And when you ever see, you know, grams, that is not a port Portuguese name. Right. So you see like grams and Dow and Taylor's gate. Yeah. And so these are all British owned port houses. think some of them like uh Copca. I'm not sure what what or cop key. I'm not even sure how you pronounce that one. And Neoport, Neoport or how are you? But that one is Scandinavian of some kind and is owned by the Dutch, I believe. But in any event, that has been our wine trivia question of the week. Let's get to our movie. Let's do it. Here's your logline for Porto. Porto, taking place in a dreamy remembered version of the gorgeous Portuguese city, stars Anton Yelchin as Jake, an American abroad who crosses paths with Matisse, played by Lucy Lucas, a beautiful French woman, also somewhat stranded and vulnerable to coincidence and romantic pull. A relationship flares up, but it's one complicated by time itself. The film is shot on uh multiple formats, Super 8, 16mm, and 35mm, each one used to embody a span of time in the life of the couple before, during, and after their one-day rendezvous and ardor. And here is a brief history of how the film came to be and its key players. Brazilian-born American Gabe Klinger had made a name for himself as a film critic for CinemaScope and Sight & Sound. and as a programmer for such venues as the Museum of Modern Art and the Rotterdam International Film Festival. But in 2013, Klinger moved behind the camera for the first time to helm the documentary Double Play, a two-for-dialogue with an exploration of the work of two distinctively different yet unexpectedly compatible American filmmakers, Richard Linklater and James Benning. This move to documenting and combining favorite filmmakers seemed like a natural extension of Klinger's advocacy for the medium. Yet rather than remaining in the documentary space for his follow-up, Klinger went overseas to Portugal to make the dreamy arthouse romance that is at once engrossing yet problematic in its sexual politics. plainly the work of a cinephile, aided and abetted by a cast and crew that were themselves cinephiles. Even though Klinger is a Brazilian and has a natural connection to Porto, Brazil having once been a colony of Portugal, Klinger originally wanted to film the movie in Athens. His documentary had been funded by European entities and he knew his first narrative feature would fare best with speaking out the same, seeking out the same. But this was the same year that the Greek liquidity crisis hit. While they were waiting for things to stabilize, one of the producers, Rodrigo Arias, who lived in northern Portugal, northern Portugal, suggested Porto. After scouting locations there with Wyatt Garfield, the film cinematographer, Klinger became convinced that it was exactly what they were looking for. And then the city of Porto and the Porto Film Commission were incredibly supportive in a way that made it clear it would be the right choice logistically. Klinger told Movie.com As you say, it's an intimate place. It has a big city feel without being overwhelming. And aside from Manuel de Oliveira, there weren't many filmmakers who shot in Porto. That novelty was appealing to us. I feel like I have to talk about Oliveira briefly here. He was a key influence. And not just because of the scarcity of films set in Porto. My first connection with the city was through his films. Doro, Fina, Flubial, Penetrotar, my goodness. I did not read this name, hold on. O-pen-tar-o, e-si-da-de, and Porto of my childhood are like great virtual maps of Porto and so incredibly beautiful. Of course they ended up influencing the visual design of our film. And shout out to our entertainment episode where we covered Olivera's feature debut, Aniki Bobo from 1942 and covered that director's history and the history of Portuguese cinema throughout the 20th century in doing so. Make sure to give that a listen, because especially if you're interested in Portuguese cinema, I got to tell you everything we just said right there. That's about where this movie's real. connection and anything to do with Portugal ends. unfortunately, we'll talk more about that in just a minute. But anyways, Dallas keep going. Although it does feel like they use one of the same streets. anyway, uh Klinger decided to film Porto in three different film gauges, a visual canvas that would expand as the temporal space of the film narrowed. Super 8 would cover the most time, not screen time, but story time. And 35 millimeter would cover the least amount of story time, but the most screen time. Director Klinger said, quote, It's difficult to sustain an immersive sense of time in Super 8 because it only gives you impressions. The frame is small, there's not much depth, and you can only shoot for three minutes. With 35mm, you have a huge frame, a lot of detail, and can shoot for typically around 10 minutes. Because there aren't as many limitations. 35mm also allows you to conceptualize time in a more objective way. Jake and Mati are characters stuck in time. They are stuck in one night, even though they are no longer living that one night. They are perhaps thinking about it or dreaming about it. There's something James Bidding says that really resonates with me. All of time is just memory. That's really what the film is about. And contrasting these different formats, exploring what they could reveal to the audience about how we live time through memory and dream, I could begin to say something really poignant about these two characters. and Klinger went on to say, quote, Attraction is a mystery to me. I always balk when people look at couples and say things like, they're perfect for each other or pejoratively or complementarily. Quote, they deserve each other. Unquote. How do you know you may be perfect for someone, but your life isn't perfect or you may be perfect for your partner, but for whatever reason, you don't want to be with your perfect person. One thing I will say is that loneliness is the great unifier. as paradoxical as that sounds. When you're an outsider in any environment, your feelings of loneliness are exacerbated and you seek connection. And sometimes those connections are strange, mysterious. I didn't want to give Jake and Maddie too much psychology. It's funny. I believe in psychology in my own life, but I don't really believe in it in cinema. Larry Gross, my co-writer, was pro backstory and I was sort of con and we found a middle ground. A lot of backstory didn't end up in the film. Unquote. And by the way, Larry Gross, we didn't mention him, but I believe he's a writer. He was an old Walter Hill writer. He did like 48 hours back in the day. If everyone remembers that one um and a couple other Walter Hill films, maybe the Warriors, I forget. But anyway, he's kind of old school. So it is fascinating that he's a co-writer on this with Gabe in any event. Porto premiered at the San Sebastian International Film Festival on September 19, 2016. On March 10th, 2017, Kino Lorber acquired distribution rights to the film, and the film was released to the public on November 17, 2017 by Kino 111717 by Kino Lorber. It has a rating of 52 % on Rotten Tomatoes based on 31 reviews and 48 on Metacritic based on... 11. So not that many people have actually even covered this film. Now, I will say when you're searching for this film, because it hit festivals in 2016, some places list this as a 2016 movie and other places listed as a 2017 movie, you might have to f around with that date to find this wherever you are depending on what they have it listed as because there is yet another movie called Porto from like 2019 or 2021 or I can't even remember. that popped up on my radar and yeah, don't that's not the right one. It's the one from either 2016 or 2017. Now, Elena Lazik writing for Seventh Row is one of the critics said, Porto hints at a promising deconstruction of what it is to fall in love at first sight, representing it as a mutually fulfilling intersection of different ultimately selfish expectations and fantasies. Unfortunately. Despite brief interruptions, we invariably return to align with Jake's perspective. Maddie's terrible problem, we are told, is her promiscuity. She loves sex and being desirable. She uses her undeniable charms to get what she desires. As if this queasy perspective on sexually confident women weren't bad enough. The film also has the hypocrisy to clear itself of all objections by having Maddie explicitly criticize herself. Like Natalie Portman's Sam in Garden State, Maddie repeatedly self identifies as quote unquote a bit crazy. It goes without saying that Maddie's shortcomings are given much more screen time than Jake's. The film rarely objects to his possessive and disrespectful behavior. Only by a stretch of the imagination can one imagine the sequences of the man now old, living alone, still in Porto and still dreaming of Maddie as a criticism of him. And I think that's a perfect place to kick off our own thoughts on this film, because the critics did kind of excoriize this. They were not kind. And I'm going to say before we get started, the one thing I will say up front is I really enjoyed watching this. 100 % Yes, it was an enjoyable watch. There's something here that I'm like, this is well made. there's a there's a there's a vibe element to it where I'm like, this is I'm engrossed. This is taking me along for the ride. I've actually watched it twice because I had to go back. We're to talk about the time stuff going on here. Do it act one, act two, act three. But there's a time thing the film plays with that I had to go back to be like, did I? it. Some things work or do they not because you're not I wasn't 100 % sure the first time. And the second time they work a little bit better than I feared, but they still don't work. And so we got to we got to talk about that a little bit. And then yes, there are some troubling the the difference between how it handles the woman versus the man is like, we're going to get back to the quote that Gabe said earlier, where he's like, I don't believe in psychology. And I'm like, you know, and I'm like, Oh, no, but Anyway, we'll get to that in just a moment. But folks, this is the part of the podcast where we start breaking the film down into three acts. We give a brief synopsis of each act and then discuss our thoughts on the film and our wine pairing thoughts. What were we thinking was going to go with this film in Act one versus how that evolves in Act two and then ultimately in Act three, how that solidifies and what we decided was ultimately the best pairing. So on that note, Dallas, kick us off Act one. Let's get going. All right, good people. this is Jake's viewpoint begins and starts us off here. We open in Porto, the harbor city in northern Portugal. We see Jake, Anton Yelchin, Ann Matthe, Lucy Lucas uh staring happily into each other's eyes. Next, a flashback, perhaps an earlier scene where Jake is alone in Cafe Suta and is looking like death warmed over as he waits in the cafe with just his dog. His loneliness and emptiness are palatable, palpable, all the things, and searing. On a blank screen we see Act 1, Jake. Next, see Jake walk by a cafe sutta, where he appears to want to recapture better times. He briefly flashes back to the better times, a conversation with Matthe. She is beautiful, to say the least. He is enamored. She is a 32-year-old classic student from Paris, and... He is a plain spoken, intense 26 year old guy who is used to taking any work he can get, barely getting by. He doesn't take care of himself much or have any meaningful social life. It's uh not a pretty picture that's painted for this guy Jake in the beginning. We learn that Matthe came to Porto with her professor. The two of them hit it off and started a relationship, but he was interested in starting a family and Matthe thought that her freedom was more important to her. Jake responds with a bizarre intensity. That cannot be understated. No, it cannot. bizarre intensity, which is the reason I liked this film. We'll get back to that. But that it's a beautiful little like moment that is so understated and so intense in this first act. That just hooked me about this show. Anyway, ah Jake responds with a bizarre intensity and says, quote, I understand. I understand completely. And can I just say he says, I understand. Oh, it's so good. understand completely. It's Whoa. I mean, you're just like, OK. Yeah. OK. Yeah, in less adept hands it would have come off as hokey and all this stuff, but it was perfect. No, it's mesmerizing. You're starting to be like, what is going on with this guy and this moment and this this these two anyway keep going. ah The connection between them appears to be strong. We briefly see them later at night in bed together. The next day Jake wakes up from the bed on the floor and notices a note telling him to help himself to any food. And that she really means it. Drawn with a smiley face, of course, because sex will do that. We later see him unpacking- uh emojis Actually, there probably were emojis I lie. Yeah, were probably emojis back then, right? We later see him unpacking moving boxes and setting up Matthe's furniture. Matthe returns, not expecting to see Jake still there, and she has her professor boyfriend in tow. After some awkwardness, the professor prepares a tapas dinner for them all. He asks how the two know one another, but no response is given. He next asks what Jake does. volunteers that Jake works at the dig site where Mati's class visited. Awkward conversation proceeds and this scene wraps up. By the way, awkward conversation also an understatement. Next, we see Jake repeatedly trying to call Mati as he waits outside her apartment with his poor dog. Finally, he sees her exit from her apartment and confronts her desperately. She invites him back inside, but Matthe is plainly upset, toiling over a decision, perhaps, and doesn't know what to do with Jake. For his part, Jake acts entirely oblivious to Matthe's cues, pushing for the intimacy of the previous night that no longer exists. Another sad, uncomfortable moment. My God. Matthe leaves and says she'll call Jake when he's, when she's less busy. Jake tries to forcibly kiss her multiple times and then slaps her when she resists. Did you guys hear that part? Slaps her in the middle of the street when she resists saying, I don't understand. You're like a different person. Now we see Jake is detained in a police office, but is getting released. The officer says Jake should not go back to see Mati. This is the act from Jake's viewpoint. All right, Dave, get into it. Tell me what the hell you're thinking about act one. What did it do for you? First off, will say listeners, I'm probably always gonna say uh Matisse named Matty, just because that's how Jake says it the whole time. He's always like, Matty, Matty, and it's M-A-T-I. uh Maybe in French, that is probably Matisse, and she is of course supposed to be French. ah He is supposed to be American. And so, couple of things. First off, this movie. is I quickly realized, you know, I'd been to Porto just a little over a month ago. And so I recognized a lot of the places they were walking and the harbor, especially. was like, yeah, I know. Like I can. I didn't even. I spent half a day. I spent like an evening in Porto and I could recognize some of the places. And I was like, it's not that big of a city. I think the way we think of cities a lot of the times like Portugal as a country. is not that big. I was not aware of this, but like we basically drove in seven days, like top to bottom all across the entire country. And was like, no, not not as big as you think it might be. um And I quickly realized, though, like, yes, it takes place in Porto. No, I didn't realize this movie was meant to take place in Athens originally, which might make a little more sense. We learn that Jake is working at this like archaeological dig site, which Probably. I mean, the porto doesn't have a lot of history, but you can see how that matches something like Athens. Yeah, a bit better. Like why Portugal? Like what's the what is the archaeological dig site? What are you doing there? And then she's a classics, but she's at this archaeological dig site at some point. And we're following a French woman and an American man in Portugal having an affair that's just about them. And it's only her professor that is a Portuguese man that does kind of interject at one point and steps in. But man. This movie has nothing to do with Porto or Portugal. It covers nothing about the culture, nothing about the area. The city itself is more of a I think one of the reviews or maybe in our write up, we mentioned that it's kind of this dreamlike version of the city, especially because the film, even when we're following our two main leads, it plays with time in this first act alone. We get like. the before, the during and the after, like bits and pieces of all three just kind of intermixed with each other. And so it's really hard to get a handle on what the exact order of these things were. And it does not tell you when you're jumping to the future or when you're suddenly in the past. Right, right. You'll just go from like they're talking in the street and yelling and then they're in their cafe having a nice conversation and you're like, oh, wait, this is before. This is before the yelling in the street. OK. And who knows how much before it doesn't really hold your hand in that way. But it is a dreamlike version of the city that does not spend a lot of time capturing any sort of essence of the city. So I will say it's not really about Porto. It's not really about Portugal. That said, of course, going into this movie, I'm like, it's movie called Porto and I'm the Portuguese wine guy and I got a. pair this with the Portuguese wine. And the first act didn't entirely dissuade me from that. I was still kind of thinking and in that vein. But this first act, there is something haunting about the opening scenes. um The movie actually opens with this like them staring lovingly into their eyes. That is actually the first shot. And then immediately we go to the haunting stuff where it's like everything is falling apart and Jake is is crestfallen and can't get over it. But at the same time, there's an intensity to Jake, as we've already mentioned, and that intensity, it's so I will say, I'm not sure I entirely agreed with his performance in this, like what he decided to do with this character and how he decided to relate it. Maybe he was a little limited by the script with what he had to say. And he's like, this is the only way it's going to make sense in my head is to make him this just extremely passionate, um like intense individual. that can't see past, you know, this one thing. But it is so intense at times that like Lucy Lucas is very, it's funny that she's one who admits to being a little bit crazy because by all standards, she is the most normal of the two by such a long shot. No question as a human being, she's gonna have her flaws and all that fun stuff, but not in any like ridiculous kind of way. There are moments where when he's trying to get her, like she invites him back into the apartment, but then he's being very like, what's going on? What's going on? And she like cannot say anything. And there's a little bit of like communication skills. Like you've got to, my God, give him something. If you need him to go away, if you need this to end, you've got to say something to him. And. That is probably the one thing of her character that I was like a little question marquee is just like she can never win the moment comes that she really needs to communicate something, anything. Doesn't even matter what, but God communicate something. She's dead silent. And then for the Jake characters part, he's just spouting the most like ridiculous things at all times for a one night stand that you're like, my guy, you're digging, you're digging yourself deeper. Like with everything you say here, anyways, your take on this opening act, I was mesmerized by it. I was into it. But also pretty immediately. This movie is challenging in terms of like you don't know where you stand. You don't know exactly where it's going. You're not sure where in time you are at any given moment, except for that. Again, once you catch on to the format shift, the eight note, the super eight to the 16 millimeter to the 35 millimeter. Yes. That's when you suddenly realize when you're shifting time to any given moment. But if you don't know that, like the movie is tough. It is very unsettling and keeps you on your toes and uncentered for sure. Anyways, you. Yeah. I think Yelchin's intensity, Jake's intensity has to be at the level it is. It is so searing, it is the intensity of desperation. And that's slightly different than I guess most intensity, right? Because you can tell he's a guy who is seeking. longing for affection for love to be noticed for a home for something that he clearly has not had in the last 26 years. He has just been this entity roaming the world looking for a place to plug in and to plug into him on you know on all fronts in terms of family life in terms of you know work in terms of you know inspiration and calling and love and so that intensity is sort of unlocked. She unlocks, she removes a brick from the dam is essentially what happens, right? She comes along and removes a brick from the fucking dam wall. And that, again, intensity has nowhere to go. It's just going to spew out full blast. And I think it's necessary. And it makes sense as you move further along in the film. ah Because as we said earlier, he slaps her as he's trying to profess his love and kiss her. It is confusion. It is just an amalgamation of everything he's ever wanted. And it seems to be pulling back from him. And it's all discombobulated. I uh think every note in act one is perfection. Now, as we go further along, it just starts to. disintegrate for me, but I do think Act 1 is... perfection. Well, and to be fair, I definitely had faith in the movie still because there's so much more to go right. And so you're like, Okay, let's see where this goes. This is a lot. I'm not sure where these two characters kind of came from, like where this whole situation, how it all came to be. And that's part of the fun of this movie is like, how did it all come to be? We're gonna get a little more into this in act two. But in any event, Act one wine thoughts, what were you thinking coming into this movie, like just having watched this first bit? Yeah. Bye. It's beautiful, right? The setting, the backdrop, what we do see of it is beautiful. It's just a random collection of streets and facades and, you know, cute cafes. And we peek in through windows and curious little boarding houses and, you know, people in the background being quirky and interesting and moody. you know, it was a little moody. It was a little dour, uh, oddly enough. Um, so wine wise, I was like, okay, this, this is a little heavy. Maybe I'm looking for something. that doesn't necessarily match the energy of the darkness and the heaviness. Maybe I'm looking for something that kind of is a contrast and sort of lightens the adds a lighter note, something peppier, brighter, because at the core of this film is love. It is a wonderful thing. mean, that that's that sort of central nucleus is a beautiful and tasty and, know. Yeah, yeah, that's what I'm saying, you know, but even, you know, even his desperation at the Cornerstone of that the core of it is Love now it does turn into intensity. It's attraction. It's lust. It's his version of I'm not saying it's absolute love I'm saying in his mind clearly there is some form of love that he's been wanting or needing and you know planning for But there is, I mean, it's kind of like the idea of love at first sight, where it's like you meet someone the first day and you're like, I love you. And it's like, I mean, I know you believe it and I know you think it. Yes. But there is still a heavy, heavy argument to be made whether that is anything like love, especially because you see how he treats her when things aren't just like going swimming. and everything and he's just getting what he wants. it's not something where he cares that much about her outside of her giving herself to him. Right. But that is is that is not love that I would. Desire that is desire. of desire, that is desire and obsession, but desire, obsession and love can also live in the space with together. And what I'm saying is with this character, clearly, clearly that is his idea of love. I'm not talking about our idea of the definition of love or the external, but his idea of love is in there with all the other nonsense somewhere. I gotta push back on that though. Like even his idea of love, separating that from what is objectively obsession and desire, there's nothing in this movie that gives us anything. It's just obsession and desire. Is there an objective definition of love? beyond objection and desire, can say that it can live in harmony with those two things, but then it has to be something that isn't just objectively those two things and then nothing else. I'll push back on that because if there is no objective definition other person actually care for their well being, what they think of you. Jake throws all of that out the window just when he doesn't get the obsession and desire fulfilled. Yes, and what I'm saying is I think he starts with the, maybe it is a bastardized concept of love, know, the definition of love, but to the individual from the inside out, that is love to him in that moment. And he clearly doesn't understand it. He clearly doesn't necessarily have a grasp on it. And you're right, everything you're saying is correct. I'm simply saying from the inside out, as wrong as it may be to the rest of the world or to objectivity, That is a version of love to him. Okay, but you can't just misuse a word and then it gets to be a version of love. So it's okay. You can say that he's throwing the word love on top of this thing and deciding that's what it means to him, but that does not make it love. I'm not saying it makes it love, I'm saying the experience for him is the closest that he's probably ever had to the concept of love. I'm not saying it... Exactly! As we learned in our build up, the director was con to backstory. And I'm like, great. So we got nothing to go on with these characters. It does become a problem. The whole thing is a like, I will say that that is like theoretically in cinema. True. You don't necessarily need backstory. You don't necessarily need a lot of psychology. You know, cinema can be a very audio visual medium and it doesn't have to be particularly narrative or character driven. One hundred percent on all of those things. But when your movie is two people having talking head dialogue and falling and it's a romance for basically the entire movie, that's all it is. It's like I'm pretty sure psychology and backstory are going to be critical to such a a movie. And the fact that it is almost nonexistent in this one. almost non-existent, we'll get to act two and three, is like, it does become a big hindrance to fully being okay with what this movie ultimately does. It does force you to kind of reckon with that idea of love and infatuation and everything we were just talking about because as we all know anyone who's ever been infatuated or even like young love what you consider love, right, is just an experience and sometimes the terminology you have is the only terminology you have and maybe that is love in your mind until you learn otherwise. And so that's essentially that kind of core thing I'm getting at. Not to say it's right or wrong or objective or subjective, but ah clearly there are some intense feelings there and in his mind they're beautiful. ah And so it's like, okay, all right, maybe something a little lighter, little peppier, a little brighter. So I'm thinking maybe something fortified, maybe a vibrant white, something with a little. Okay. a little fizz, little uh agitation. we're going. I do. yeah. OK. It was actually something I considered as well. um And I do think that if I if I'm correct, we'll see when we get to the reveal at the end. But if I'm correct, I think it's a good pairing. I think that does work because, the dreamlike quality to this movie keeps it kind of airy. Yeah, it does. Keeps it kind of weirdly ethereal. Yeah. Even when the themes are very heavy and the like what the characters are doing very heavy. mean, like one night for like fall love at first sight, kind of first night love that then all goes wrong and falls apart. All very heavy themes. the way the movie plays it, everything feels like you're in this bit of a lemon, like limbo slash liminal space where it's not the weight isn't the weight of the world isn't there. The world is almost like frozen. Well, most of this movie goes on. And one of my complaints about the city of Porto not really being featured is that the city is just sort of a Like they say they're in Portugal, then Portugal is just kind of there. And they're just doing their thing. Okay, it's so interesting you say that because one of the things I loved about this film, absolutely fucking loved about this film, and I don't want say this is rare, but I've rarely seen it done well, where this moment in time is kind of frozen. Everything else around these two kind of just stops and freezes. And so, like you said, Deporto is not a character in this film, right? It isn't a character in this film. Like you might find in some films where the title is, you know, is the city. And I appreciate that so much because I personally get tired of seeing cities as fucking characters in film. I'm not there. I can go on a trip and go see the fucking city if I want to see it. OK. Like, you know, I know I'm not not shading anyone who does it or loves it. It's fantastic. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Keep doing it. But I do enjoy the kind of. magnifying glass and time stop on this relationship. Yeah, it forces you to analyze this sort of sit with these characters and the ideas of love and affection and all this stuff that gets, you know, all muddled. Anyway, let's move on. Yeah. Almost almost. did want to talk about my wine thoughts here as well. I mentioned a little bit, but it was just that definitely a Portuguese something. I was thinking I was going to stick to that here. But then like you, ethereal light, although that intensity was kind of there and the sadness. And so I was like, God, it's really going to depend where this movie goes, whether we're going white and light and, you know, having that lift. or whether we're getting something, especially if we're going to talk about the Duoro and Porto and we're going to talk about like big bold reds. And I'm like, OK, this could be a big bold red. This could be a light ethereal white. This is it's really going to depend where we go after Act one. All right. And on that note, let's get to Act two, Maddie's viewpoint. Flash forwards show that Maddie and the professor get married, have a baby. The girl grows up in a seriously, oh, and is a seriously practicing violin. Maddie demands she quote unquote, take a break for some peace and quiet, even though the daughter plainly does not want to. The professor then arrives and Maddie says, you should have called. The professor brings a gift for Maddie and for their daughter, Madeline, who is visibly thrilled to see her papa unlike her mama. And Maddie and the professor are not plainly not friendly. She is more uncomfortable with the visit than he is. The professor spends the remaining time only with Madeline. This act shifts back in time from the first moment Maddie had seen Jake. She takes notes at the archaeological dig site and Jake moves wheelbarrows of dirt in the near distance. She later notices him at the train station heading home. Flashes show that Maddie also longs for the night of the cafe. The scene begins to show more of what had transpired as Maddie got to know Jake at the cafe, replaying conversations that we saw in Act 1, but filling in more gaps in between moments. This was a cool thing that when it first started doing it, I was not sure how much I liked it, but as it kept going, I was like, no, this is cool. This is nifty. It's like we saw snapshots of these moments. And now in Act 2, we start to see that the way it was edited in Act 1, Suddenly, no, there were were parts of that conversation missing. And now we're getting the full conversation. And it works really, really well. So this I give the movie a lot of credit for. We learn more about Jake's past and family and what brought him to Portugal. Maddie reveals that she was once sick, was once crazy as sometimes, quote, You know what you must do, but you know it is impossible to do, unquote. Jake asks, how did she escape? And she says, I didn't exactly escape. Okay. End of Act 2. It's a pretty short Act 2. 3 is going to be the next big one. But yeah, Act 2, just basically starts to fill out a little bit more, but we get a little more of Maddie. We get to see her in the future post all of this and that she did settle down to marry that professor, but then plainly divorced him, but had a kid with him. But then she couldn't take it. She did need her freedom. But now she has this kid. um But. All of that said, and this was something I actually had to watch the movie twice to really understand. I did not realize. I actually thought at first we were going into the past when she was with the professor and I was like, she has a kid. Right. And I was like, and maybe the kid was with the professor the night she was with Jake and that, you know, and then she was moving. But this was like another time when she was living elsewhere in Portugal. So I thought we had gone back in time and it was only on a second viewing that I realized we had gone forward in time. And this was post everything. And I was like, that OK, that changes how I have to understand everything that's going on here. And now she's interestingly nostalgic for the relationship with Jake. But at the same time, yeah, we still don't know. How like we see more of her with Jake and this, I think this is the interesting thing is the more we see of her with Jake. And this is I'm really going to ding the movie for this neck three. So only mention it briefly here. But it's like they're so happy. They're getting along so well, and they're so happy. And yet somehow, it all falls apart, like somehow she's just like, and oh, I I kind of never expected to see you again, type of a thing. And it's like, you probably should tell him that honey, because that and we'll get to act three, we'll get to act three. um on that. As much as I am very critical of how this movie writes Jake, there is that one element of Maddie where it's like this should all just disappear somehow. And it's like, but it's a human being. It's not going to do that unless you like you have to very actively tell them to disappear. And then it's only their fault after that. you got you. got to give something that isn't just silences. Okay, I have to defend Mati here. uh I have to defend Mati here. um I'm gonna be wrong. Jake should have picked up on the silences. It's like, well, she's not happy with me. She doesn't want me here. don't think Jake was going to pick up on much. Jake, I don't think Jake was going to pick up on much. ah she is so he should be picking up on that. But at the same time, they should really does just need to come out and say it fucking once. Punctuation at the very least. Also too though, uh... Yeah, that whole act was a little not confusing, but it did require me to pause the film and go, wait a minute, hold on. Which, by the way, if a film makes me do that. Mm hmm. Yeah, it was engrossing. That is one thing I really enjoyed watching this film for all the criticisms. I'm going to keep it now. ah It is like it is a watch that I was just like, you're just trying to puzzle this movie out as it goes. Yeah. And you enjoy the characters while you're watching them. Yeah, it it. think, by the way, I think anyone who watches this film is probably over the age of 18 likely. You've probably had a deep, intense crush. You probably know those initial confusing feelings of a one night stand or something really intense where the person is just either saying all the right things, doing all the right things. They look the right way. Everything's just sort of stimulated. You add that to his crazy backstory, which we don't get much of, but enough. ah And so you start to see, okay, this is gonna be a really intense little connection. She clearly has an impulse that is has nothing to do with his impulse. And they meet in this moment. And she has to go back to her life, her insanity, her crazy. I think I think her reference to crazy is just her normal life is like normal life. Like I think that's what she's referencing. um Anyway, I think her idea of crazy seems to be living a normal life, like an just a normal. You mean a responsible normal life. Yeah. The thing of crazy is that she rejects that she is she is she is. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. That's not crazy. That's crazy. I mean, like a lot of people are like, it's going to fit into this nice little box of expectation and mainstream like that. Like that is appalling. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, and I think when she meets his version of crazy, of insanity, um it is, well, number one, explosive and exactly what the other person wants at that moment in time. But when they have to pull away, as you said, she's just walking back to her world. She's just walking back to her world. Because this was a little detour for her. She asked her mom, you know. I get that. I get that. And I do think that is exactly what the movie is presenting. Yeah. But again, we're to get to act three. Yeah. It doesn't hold up with act three. At all! so I don't disagree with anything you're saying in terms of what the movie is meaning to present her as and explain her character and what she ultimately does. And it works well enough. But as you're going through and so again, I was like just loving this movie all the way up to this point and even most of Act three. But when the movie when the credits start to roll, I was like, wait, what? That's it. But we'll get there. We'll get there anyways. Did anything change then in this Act 3 Winewise thought for you? um I wanted something a little more celebratory at this point. I'm like I need a Little bit let me let me get a little head on here. Let me get a little let me put some goggles on cuz Yeah, so I started thinking maybe something a little a little more Festive a little more festive. Yeah. Yeah. How about you? Yeah, for me, this movie was I was actually a little bit more on that. It's so easy to watch. It just goes from scene to scene. I mean, even though you're puzzling it out, the movie itself is there's a kind of effortlessness the way it goes from scene to scene and jumps through time like it doesn't belabor it. Right. It's not and it's not trying to hold your hand. You're just slipping from scene to scene, from place to place, from time period to time period. And it's filling in these gaps as it chooses to and giving you more context, which is making it make more sense at this point and making it all work a little bit better. And so, like, at this point, I was like, God, yeah, easy, easy wine. want like just easy sipping. um This is a breeze, maybe something contemplative like this is a this is a puzzler, but still something that isn't like. I think the heaviness wasn't there at all. I was just like along for the ride. I was engrossed. And so a wine that can be engrossing has that complexity, but it's also easy. It like does not hit you hard in any way is just engrossing and um balanced, a.k.a. elegance. OK, you know, and one of those two things. That's that's where I was right there. Alright. I dig it. Act 3. Mati and Jake. We now see the full evening of their cafe meet-cute. Jake arrives at the restaurant by chance. He sits alone at a table, then notices Mati is already seated alone at the opposite side of the cafe, facing toward him. She smiles at him, so he approaches. Mati suggests they go somewhere else. She kisses him as they walk along. way to her car. Matisse says she had recently moved to a new apartment and needs help moving boxes. Jake carries a large heavy box from her trunk to her apartment a decent walk away. And having just been to Porto, by the way, there is no parking that is ever close to where you need to go. And all the streets are small, narrow on steep inclines and wrap over and under each other, just the way we see on the walk here. So that part, I really I was like, oh, the memory recent memories. And it's very true. have to walk and it's all uphill. And I can imagine like, yeah, carrying heavy boxes. This is why she was like, oh, I'm not carrying these boxes. My God. Or I'm waiting for the day I luck out. and get that parking spot right outside my building. But it's going to take one of those two days. also a very cute kind of earn your pleasure moment because he is happily carrying these boxes and also trying to hide the fact that he is exhausted. He's really desperately trying to hide the fact that he's exhausted while carrying this box. Matthea carries the only lightweight box and then Jake, pumped, goes back four more times to finish getting all of the heavy boxes while Matthea relaxes inside the apartment and sets up a bed on the floor. After finishing with all the box strips, Jake says he is almost dead with exhaustion and lies on the bed. But Matty says, I didn't kill you yet with a suggestive look. Jake finds the energy from some deeply passionate or some deeply passionate sex, multiple bouts of animalistic and romantic, Porto-style sex. I'm coining that. Jake states, how is this happening to us? It doesn't feel like we have a choice, even if we wanted to stop. Also, another effectively creepy moment. We suddenly match cut to the conversation in the cafe, the one we've seen portions of in all three acts now. Here we see the end of it, and Jake suggests they walk back to the apartment. On the walk, Jake professes, I love you. And Matthe then says the same to him. They state how they didn't think they could ever lie to each other. At dawn, they finally returned to Matthe's apartment and sleep after the fairy tale evening. She wakes up earlier than Jake, gets dressed and leaves the note for Jake. Jake wakes up, reads the note. But then we see that Matthe comes back with food. She lays down and gets back into bed. The two lay there and stare into one another's eyes. The exact scene the movie opened with. And then the credits. WTF. so just so I play this out for the listeners, that final scene of them looking into each other eyes, that was the first moment of the entire movie. And that happened when uh right after Anton or Jake was lying on the bed. And we saw that in Act one where he wakes up and she's gone and he sees the note left behind from her where it's like, help yourself some food. I really mean it. Smiley face and. Then it cuts in act one, it then just cut to that evening, like nighttime when she comes back with the professor and is really surprised to see him there. And that's when she's like, no, I thought you'd be gone by now. But now we see that she comes back with food after he sees the note, the note's still there, help yourself to some food. But then she decides, maybe she didn't think she was gonna do this. I have no idea. And then she decides to come back with some food. And then she lays down and stares lovingly into his eyes. Now this is after the night before where she returns the I love you to him. And when he says, I don't think I could ever lie to you, she says, I don't think I could ever lie to you. Well, remember, he actually says it was another creepy moment. It was not actually my favorite moment in entire film. He's the exact verbiage was he's never ever. Right. And that was the most chilling. I was like, wow. There's you know, I know, I know the writer, director doesn't have any room for like backstory, but in that line. I think I think also, there's something about this these lines that Jake is saying and I think Anton chose to say that like he's just this intense and passionate. And I do think the writers actually think these are supposed to be loving lines. I don't think they're meant to be a stalkery and like, like serial killer in the making type of He's just an intert's lover, come on. He's just like, you'll break my heart, please never ever lie. Because there's a way to say that where it's like, please never ever lie to me. Like kind of a thing. Even then, it's still that thing where it's like the human condition, like white lies and things like that. No relationship goes long without some form of lying by omission. everybody's lying all the time in a long relationship the time. Yeah. Like there are there will be elements of lies or some some kind of lie that will be a part of that long term. So like to say like never ever lie to me is like, well, this won't last. You know, I'm right there. But then she also is like, yeah, I don't think I could ever lie to you. And I'm like, Lady, why if you why are you saying these things? Like, why are you giving it right back to him and then taking him back? Like, she's not worried. She's not afraid. And I kept thinking, especially when she came back with the food. and then lies down, I was like, oh, wow, this was unexpected. And then I'm like, so that means something happened between now and when she comes back with a professor that changes everything. And I'm like, so where is this going? And then credits fucking roll. See, I have a theory, which is wrong, because I haven't thought about it too deeply. I think the kid is his. I'm joking, I'm joking, I'm joking. Wow. Okay. huh. Except she would one she wouldn't know that that day. She can't know that. Maybe she doesn't now. Even if you're right about that theory, my question to you there is like, what does that change? Nothing! There's no whole lot- nothing. Absolutely nothing. Remember, this film is a whole lot of like, oh, what does that do? Oh, it's a whole lot of- it's an exp- it's film is kind of experimental in that way, where it forces you to kind of decide and decide things for yourself or like fill in the blanks. But I know, I know, but it needed to lean far more heavily into the experimental side if we wanted to just go that route and not have a full because the experimental part is actually kind of awesome. And up until even to the moment it's ending, I'm like, OK, but just keep going. This almost is tying together. And then it just drops out. And I'm like, do you think? It makes sense to go from that to her coming back with the professor later and being like, what are you still doing here? Like in my head, there has to be now it could be, I have no idea. It could be there is like, yeah, there's a missing scene, but it's like, we're just, we're not interested in that. But obviously something has to happen. We just don't know what. And that's part of what sours everything. And we do see that Jake can be a little physical. and violent and not thinking straight and things like that. And maybe there was a little bit of a hint of that. Maybe something happened with Maddie just while she was out and about. And she's like, no, no. But I mean, she is literally surprised to see him still there. And the way this movie ends, you're like, there is no chance in hell you left him there. And after this and can be surprised, he's still there. Like, it's not humanly. She's not crazy that way. oh okay, okay. Let's pause here for a second. So, anyone out there who is familiar, any of our listeners out there who have had one night stands or familiar with one night stand culture or been around friends who've had one night stands, if it's a good one, it's not uncommon that, ah you know, your paramour wakes up in bed, you need to run out and go someplace and you say, you know, lock up when you leave or shower and head out, you fully expect that person to be fucking. That's my point. That's my point. It's like, what the fuck does she say? Because one, he's still there to emptying her fucking boxes. Get out of my fucking boxes. Get out of my house right now. I know I'm sure she felt the same although she did ask him to haul them all up and maybe he was like I'll keep helping right I mean I can see I can see right I can see in his mind how that is just an extension of what he's done is it and that whatever that yeah well and everything we saw in act three he has every right to be which is the crazy part right where you're sort of like okay I mean you are a weird character and you are too much and too intense but she played right, if it's something she has no interest in having a second anything with you. She played right along with it a little too well. Like to the point where I don't buy, this is where I almost think that this is too much from the man's perspective. And I agree with the reviewer in that regard. And it's written by men. And I'm like, they let the woman be a little too much of a pure conundrum and a pure just question mark. where it's like, how can they say all these things and then show up later? And it's like you're a different person, right? And I'm like, I get it, but this is too extreme. You need to give me reasons to believe this person would be this much of a leap from A to B, especially showing me all that you just showed me in Act Three. Yeah, yeah, that I mean, that that makes sense. But I also think about what got my tea here. She was looking for a fantasy clearly, right? Just a one night stand, a dalliance, whatever a weak interest. So she was in the moment for a tryst, at least that's how it seems. And In my mind, her saying, love you back and all the things and doing all the things is just a part of the fantasy for that. I know, kind of. know. But you know, but no one thinks that you say that and it means nothing to the other person. Like, again, it's not an agreed upon fantasy, because that's a different thing, too, where it's like, we're going to do this together. And then the other person does start to fall. That's a different type of thing where it's like that can happen. But you both agreed to do the fantasy as a fantasy. But that's not what's happening here. I understand the movie's trying to be like they're two individuals that had different expectations and different, but then the way it plays out, I'm just like, but why? She would be more guarded than this. She would be more, well, like, you know, you can say I love you and she and she can find it sweet. Like that's that's the type of person who is like, oh, that's really sweet. Not like there's a way to handle that moment without saying I love you back. didn't like saying I love you back is just not something you do unless you really mean it. I didn't write it down. Oh, man. I didn't write it down. But she made it. She says a line. And it's something to the effect of I'm acting like the man or. ah I came just like uh like a man and that that line made me think maybe there's some subliminal kind of commentary on role gender switching gender switch totally 100 % see Being thing. mean, again, but again, it's a little I mean, some people commented on that. were reviewers that commented on that where it's like, but again, because they made the man the dreamboat where it's like she gets the best sex of her life. It's like she's so lucky that he showed up and gave her this amazing night kind of thing. And then she just dumps him next day. So you could call it a role reversal, but there's nothing in the movie to explore that really like brings home what that that's what it's exploring. It's a little... It's not a read for the end. think it's exploring a whole lot, but yeah. I know. But that's the thing. The movie really needed for it to work as a whole. And I think it does not work as a whole as much as I enjoyed watching it. I have to give it crap for as an entire work. It leaves the viewer. More discombobulated and frustrated and adrift. Kind of but like this related to. But what you're adrift on is not as a filmmaker. You have control of your product. to what end and how does this function as a piece rather than the pieces where it's like, I can tell you what each piece is trying to do as a piece. And it's like, OK, why did you put them all together in this way? Because that's what you have control over. That was your choice. And when it doesn't amount to anything else, and unfortunately. That's where I got a ding, Porto, is like, it does not amount to something grander. It just is an amazing series of moments that any given moment you can find a lot to like in and a lot to criticize, but a lot to think about. And as it goes, you're thinking hard and you're like, I love this. This is great. Where's it going? And then it just, it almost like eats its own tail for no reason whatsoever. right at the very end and just gives you nothing to go home with. I agree with that. um I personally don't necessarily need to have a destination, you know, or a direction so much. But I will say one thing for all of those sort of narrative or cinematic, you know, story flaws. uh I think this is intentional. think it mimics the experience you have as an audience member. One mimics the relationship, the one night stand, the tryst, this kind of intense thing that comes out of nowhere grabs you. It doesn't make any sense. There's too much intensity. There's vagaries. There's all this stuff. And then it just sort of leaves you on one hand, really stimulated. ah But the other hand, there is no sort of off-boarding, no conclusion, no sort of resolution. So I like to think that was intentional on the filmmaker's part um because that would make up for some of the sort of narrative and cinematic and filmic things that this kind of lacks. overall, loved the experience of watching this film, loved the performances, loved the choices. Like Yelchin is... clearly one of those was one of those actors and it was the reason he was so popular and sort of really catching fires because he made choices. doesn't matter how small the role was, he made choices that stood out. So hats off to him. Sorry to see you go my guy, but we are drinking in your honor. What the hell are we drinking? I wanna hear yours first. You go first, goddamnit. I have no clue. So I have uh sort of two suggestions. I have a wine in specific. And then I have just a way to approach this movie that's a little different um in terms. So my wine in specific, really, you I did stick to Portuguese. I did stick to Portugal. And I was thinking about how this movie lacks a backstory and like for most of its characters and how these two People even meet on an archaeological dig site all about history. You know, having nothing to do except about like, let's dig up the secrets of the past. Let's see where we came from. Let's see what the story of this place is. And here's a movie called Porto, completely uninterested in the place and its history or the characters and their history just in giving us essentially a vibes based moment to moment um disjointed but engrossing for all of that experience. Right. And so I thought, okay, what part of Portuguese I let's do a very traditional style of wine and let's do something that's got a little bit of, you know, something that would be at home in an archaeological dig site. And I had to go with their giant Vina Vina Vina de Italia wines, their giant clay vessel wines. where they know they often this is a ancient tradition in the south of Portuguese. So this is this is where I have to break from the movie a little bit. You know, Porto is in the Dora, which is in the north. This is coming. This is traditional to the Alan Teju, which is the far south of Portugal. But it's these giant clay vessels kind of like a query, which is the Georgian version of that. But the queries are always underground. These stand upright up at the top. You usually have to climb a ladder to get to the top of it. And I have I represent a couple wines here in LA the Bojador Vino de Talia. There's a red there's Tinto, there's a white a Bronco. And both of them are they pick the grapes and they're both field blends of grapes. um You take the you crush the grapes, you take the seeds and the stems and you put them at the bottom of the Talia. By the way, the Talia is T-A-L-H-A but you always pronounce the H like a Y in Portuguese. So it's Talha. but it's pronounced talya. And you take the seeds and stems, you put them at the bottom, it's gonna soak with the juice and the skins, then you put up the juice and the skins, you pour it all in there. The seeds and stems are gonna give it some extra tannins, some extra woodsy flavors and whatnot. And then it's gonna soak in there for about, the Bojador ones are four months that they stay in that talya. And you stir it, you punch down and stir it three times a day for four months straight. And only after do you bottle. the dumb thing afterwards. So the Talia wines tend to be, they're a little challenging for a lot of palates. um They're a little bit of a head scratcher. And I think that's a part of this movie too, is I wanted something that doesn't mean they're big and like they hit you hard in any way, the way in which they're aged and the Talia is covered, but you have to keep lifting the cover to do the punch downs and the stirs and whatnot. the wine gets a little oxidized. Just a hint, it's only four months, so it's not crazy. It's not like a sherry or something like that where it's years of micro oxidation. But over four months, you're still getting a touch of oxidation. So especially in the white, you get a little sherry note in there that kind of creeps in. And then the tallia itself, the ceramic vessel, adds this kind of rocky minerality to it. And if you do a Tinto, a red, I always think of it as having this underlying note of like a briny black olive note that gets kind of inserted in there. And then you, a lot of some people taste it as like almost a metallicy kind of kind of note. And the whites get more of that little nutty sherry kind of uh note to the whole thing. And I think the whites, if you want to go easy and breezy, but still be challenged a little bit, but it still doesn't hit you hard. Do the do the Bronco, do the white, the white Vina D'Italia. delicious, easy. The red Vigna d'Italia, gonna be punchy and it's gonna hit you a little harder. So if you want something that's actually gonna be a little like challenging like the puzzle box that is this film, do the red. If you want that more to match that ethereal quality to the whole setting and the way this all plays out, do the bronco, do the white. Bougedor, Vigna d'Italia, Tinto and Bronco. You can find those all up and down the West Coast. I believe they are also in Washington. So anywhere there in the States and of course, if you're in Europe, I don't know, but probably they're around in Europe. Bouguard is the label. It's the one of the winemakers at Racine, which is one of the big, big wineries in Portugal. And this is his side passion project. It's like all his and not not part of the larger Racine winery. um So that is my wine wine, I think, to go. then the approach that I think could be really interesting. This movie. starts with all that disappointment of the relationship falling apart and ends with that act three. And the act three is like almost a little over half of the runtime. Really. It's like the meat of the movie. And it's all the happy. It's that one day and it's all happy. Nothing out of place is just that fall in love at first sight romance. So happy. So I think for the first 30 to 40 ish minutes, find a line that you really like. Doesn't matter what. find a wine you really like and you're in the mood to drink. Now, what is the ideal way to drink that wine? If it's like a white and it's going to be chilled, great. Pour one glass room temperature. Okay. If it's a red, you pour one glass bone chilling cold or super hot, like when make it get like, you know, it's still supposed to be like cellar temperature, ideally for a red. So let it be like the room temperature is like 80. Let it get up there. Let it be a little like a little sickeningly, whatever. All right. For the first glass, you drink the bad version of an idea of a nice wine of something that makes you happy. But drink it in a way that's going to be hard. And that's going to be the that is the entire energy and vibe of the first third. And for that last two thirds, once you pour that glass, now put the wine in the fridge, let it get properly chilled, then you're going to do this all together. Now pour that chilled glass or two or however well, however many you have for the second two thirds. And for the happy romantic side, you drink that ideal version. But I think an unideal version of a wine that makes you happy, let it make you sad for one glass and then let it make you happy again. I like that. I like that. That's fun, actually. Yeah. All right. Little curated evening. So I like this film a lot. Like this film a lot. um I weirdly do too. For all my wanting to throttle it, I'm like, God, I liked watching it. Yeah, I'm like that with people too. There are people on paper I should absolutely abhor, just hate. But I I do. I still hate it. Storytelling choices. But yes, I do like watching it. So there is like it is love and hate. It's like I like a totally different part. And I hate another totally different. Yeah. And then to me, sometimes those are the most stim, they almost always are the most stimulating experiences, films, books, or whatever it is, it's that there is, there's some consternation, there's some agitation, there's some stuff, you know, you've got to you got to fucking, you know, reckon with it, I suppose. um So as I said earlier, I was thinking maybe I wanted something that was just For Act One, I needed something that was really poppy and peppy and fun and bright and maybe a white. And I was thinking, you know, maybe... um maybe a sparkling of some sort. um But then asked who came around and I was like, Oh, I need to I need to ground myself in something. you didn't. You didn't do what I you were going to do. So I need to ground myself in something here. I thought you were gonna do a porto tonico. I was, I absolutely was. Um, I want By the way guys that is that is half uh white dry port and half tonic water and fuck it's so He just drank. Oh, good. Just fucking drink them. uh But I actually was. But then, you know, as this film was, we got deeper and deeper into this film. It was like, there is so much sort of darkness here. And just there's also some sweetness there because of what she was looking for and what he was looking for, at least as far as we know. At least as far as we know, you know. I mean, of course, there's a little bit of darkness and confusion, most confusing emotions in there, of course. I wanted something fortified, but also sweet. Right? I wanted something that had a chord to it, something that was sort of grounded and maybe, maybe woodsy or sort of earthy somehow. And I decided to go with I think you see it here. The Alhambra Moscatel de Setchubal 2019, which is a fortified dessert wine from the Setchubal Peninsula uh in Portugal, which is, I think, included in uh Lisbon. um It is recognized in the DLC since 1907, so it has been around for a while. um It is an amber colored Moscatel. The grape is the Moscatel de Setchubal. uh and the Appalachian is the same. The grape, think the parentage is, ah is it the Alexandrian? Yeah. It um is. And this is the musket of Setu Bal. So hey. right. What's Alexandria? I know, screw that. It is uh delicious. I mean, you can find these kind of, I don't want to say everywhere, but it's very popular, even here. They're very popular to find the Muscatels. uh And this brand, Maker, is also uh renowned. um It's just kind of perfect. It's got like this really intense orange base, but it's not sometimes those orange liqueurs are things that are certified with that orange kind of essence, they can get almost not medicinal sort of house cleaner ish, a little scrapey, a little scrappy a little too much. It's got that it's got some almond in it. It's got it's it's a little perfect. It's it's a little perfect. It also is strong enough to make you forget the things you dislike about this film if you have more than one glass. Yeah, yeah. Could be helpful. You heard it here first, folks. You might need to get a little tipsy, like proper to truly walk away thinking this is you love this movie. But, oh, yeah. I mean, I watched it twice. Like I went back. I dove back in. I was like, no, no, no, no, no. I need to try this again. I need to try this again because I liked it so much that I wanted the story to work better. And I will say the other thing, then that, you know, with the background in theater and that whole dramaturgical thing, you're always, even when it's not given, you're always sort of looking or aware of backstory and all this stuff, right? And uh you can tell a really good actor because they make acute, strong choices that give you some glimpse into backstory or create it for you. And... ah I think this film is going to be in the future studied a lot in film schools and Right. I do my god, the director just creamed himself. I mean you have no idea really do because of what we're saying because of what we're saying it's like there's clearly a list of things that annoy that shit you see that by the way that is that one stack of three three stacks of scripts I printed up original scripts all individual anyway um it just is annoying in some very clear ways but also perfect in some very clear ways and that space in between and invites conversation and I love it. And that's all I gotta say. Go watch this film. Hate it, love it, drink some wine, come back and tell us about it. I I agree. Do it and drink and drink some bad wine, drink some good wine, drink some good wine in a bad way and then drink it in a good way. Take all the advice. See what you'd like to do. Also the Vina de Talia's or the Muscatel de Sato Bal. Go see if you can find that. That is from Fonesca. Fonseca is one of the big how they also do some port and possibly sherry as well. I actually don't know. Yeah, I think. so. got at least, I have a, if I'm safe, a port for sure and maybe a share. Yeah, okay. Yeah. Okay, perfect. All right. Well, folks, before we go, as always, little housekeeping. Do you love this podcast? Well, do you love one in movie pairings? Well, then make sure to follow us and subscribe to this pod. Also leave us a rating and review because all of these things make it easier for others to find out about us. No one's looking for a one in movie podcast. No one knows such a thing exists. 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We got to get a blackout panel for the skylight that we can pull to and from. So we're getting that into the best screening room possible. So we have a lot of upcoming, if you're in the LA area, we're gonna have nights of short films from local creators, nights of feature films. We have work in progress films where people can come show a rough cut and get feedback. That will probably be an invite only. So you better come get to know us and maybe get an invite to some of those work in progress screenings that we're gonna do in all of these. paired with wine from the wine shop. This is going to be a micro cinema within a wine shop baby that is also a tasting room so they can pour wine by the glass, you can do a flight. So we will keep you up to date on all those things coming very, very soon online events as well as bonus wine and entertainment pairings that we sometimes write about on the sub stack collabs with other writers, filmmakers and wine peeps. And if you ask nicely, we'll even help you. Let's say you don't live in the LA area and you can't come to ours. So we will even help you with your own wine and movie pairings. Just ask. We love doing this. We're super OK with doing it more. Let us know what you want to watch. Let us know the wine you have on hand and we'll help you maybe pair it with something that's going to work like a proper wine and movie pairing. And finally, many thanks to our sponsor, Curated Wine Shop. That is actually the wine shop where the microcinema is. So let me tell you, not only are they going to be doing that for us, but No idea where to begin finding a wine and movie. I'm sorry, wine, finding a wine and movie. No idea where to begin finding a wine that pairs with your movie. That's okay. Almost literally no one does, but Curated is here to help. They accept every entertainment inspired challenge and will curate the selection to match your palette. Just tell them what you're trying to pair with your budget, your preferences, and they will show you the way. Curated is a boutique wine shop on La Brea Avenue, mid-city Los Angeles, founded and operated by Peeps currently and previously part of the entertainment ecosystem. We're talking Johnny, Kelly, Allison, and Mia, they are all fantastic, go meet them. They carry an ever-changing, wide-ranging selection of small lot artisanal wines, from the known and comforting to the completely unique. We're talking reds, whites, rosés, oranges, sparklings, dry wines, sweet wines, everything in between. Go check them out if you're in the LA area. And you can also find them online at curated-wines. Thank you so much for listening. We will be back in one week with another one on entertainment pairing. Foyou of entertainment. Ciao for now. Later guys. it as mutually fulfilling intersection of different. I inhaled wrong there. Intersection of different. No, no, let's just start over. You uh And actually, no. The Gremlin got him. The podcast Gremlin got him. I inhaled and like a little bit of spit just went right down the throat and was like, whoa. Nice.