Our third film was Bottle Shock (6:30 pm, Cinerama), the SIFF closing gala film. It’s about an international wine tasting between US and French wineries in 1976, and about one of the US vineyards and its people. It will no doubt draw comparison with Sideways; it shares the wine theme, and is very good, but otherwise isn’t very similar. I enjoyed it a lot.
Before Bottle Shock, SIFF officials gave some speeches, and then invited the film-makers on stage. Among them were director and co-writer Randall Miller, his wife and co-writer Jody Savin, and stars Bill Pullman and Freddy Rodriguez. They were delightful, and interacted nicely with the crowd. They came out afterwards for a Q-and-A, which was very nice. Several signed my SIFF book. I took lots of pictures, but I haven’t checked whether they’re good yet.
One of the Usual Suspects – three films, SIFF closing party, and the Fools’ ballot-counting party