Customer Reviews

Uncorked

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This movie is so such a riot! It's full of INTELLIGENT comedy - no Dumb & Dumber jokes in this one! No potty humor or crude jokes - thank goodness! A mature take on one man's struggle to "find himself." Wonderfully written, the musical score is PERFECTION and guitarists will appreciate a particularly moving scene with an acoustic played classical style (although the editing is poor during the scene and makes it look like Rufus Sewell is playing the notes two measures behind lol). I thought the editing was fresh and interesting. Nigel Hawthorne was just brilliant, as was Sewell. I don't think I've ever seen Rufus Sewell play so interesting a role. Seemed like he *knew* this character inside and out. Great supporting cast (including Minnie Driver) and direction! Definitely a flick worth checking out!

Uncorked is a delightful movie for those who are sick of the same old Hollywood stories. Rufus Sewell's character, Ross, is determined to get rich quick, and after a string of failed ventures is sure an abandoned manganese mine is his ticket. His incredibly successful girlfriend (Minnie Driver) and her pretty, ethereal friend come to help him sell off his family's wine collection. But an eccentric uncle (Nigel Hawthorne), who is currently living on a pillar, is about to give him a "Karmic enema." A great cast, breathtaking scenery and an enchanting soundtrack accompany this beautiful, uplifting movie. I highly recommend this movie to anyone wanting a break from the ordinary. Uncork your own spirit!

I found this movie to be refreshingly great! It was very original in the fact that the writers and directors did not spend all of their time trying to over-do it. The characters were wonderful, the acting was great and to put it simple, the storyline was so well written that at the end of the movie you are not left wanting. You actually feel as though you have seen the whole movie and nothing was left out.

Ross (Rufus Sewell) is about to make a fortune. He plans to sell all the collected bottles of wine bequeathed to him by his Uncle Cullen, the proceeds of which he will use to buy a manganese mine three miles west of the many-acre Satchem Farm they own. He will become financially solvent, and will be able to marry his girlfriend Kendal, who arrives on the farm with a quiet but pretty friend, Laurie, whom Cullen describes as "the girl with the young eyes but old soul." Laurie's quiet, reserved, very pretty, and has a very nice smile.

The title action occurs, thanks to Uncle Cullen, and deliberately it seems, and that appears to be the end of Ross's dream to get somewhere in life, as home insurance does not cover senility. Ross feels the need to be responsible, as his hermit-like brother Paul lives in the arboretum, planting trees with a bunch of H'mong, a peaceful arboreal people hailing from Laos.

Kendal has been patient, loving, and exasperated with Ross, but she's more a clear, organized person who thinks Ross should get his priorities straight. She does sympathize with him though, telling Laurie that everything Ross does is "like a perversion of the law of physics. The harder he works, the less he gets out of it."

Everybody thinks Cullen has gone around the bend when he has a twenty cubit high (about twenty-eight feet) Greek pillar made of titanium and plexiglass installed in the yard overlooking the woods, and in one of the movie's highlights, proceeds to perch himself atop it a la St. Simeon, who did so in the fifth century as an ascetic practice of achieving enlightenment. Well, everybody except Laurie. He spends the second half of the film on that perch.

However, Cullen is far from senile. As he tells Kendal, "life has a long experience of suffering, disappointments, and chaos, but the moment you stop squirming against the catastrophe of being alive, music flies out of the dog doo." But his most important pearls of wisdom are for his nephew, whom he wants to learn what he was put on earth for. What are his special gifts? To this, he enlists the aid of Laurie and Kendal.

Other characters include Tom, a former Olympic contender whose career ended when he tripped on his shoelace and broke his ankle. He spends his days diving, his interface to the real world thus severed, and barely says a word, especially to his former flame Kendal, who turned to Ross when Tom cut off communication with her.

The best performance and lines comes from Nigel Hawthorne (Cullen) hands down, playing an eccentric, idealistic, and ultimately cleverly strategic old man who's got a lot of perspective in life. As Kendal tells him, "Satchem Farm ...is a growing collection of hermetically sealed neurotics and the not so funny part is the common denominator is you." Such a far cry from the devious Sir Humphrey Appleby in Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister. He delivers the funniest line regarding a character: "His karma was constipated. I gave him an enema."

Laurie is played by Amelia Heinle, who bears a strong resemblance to Denise Richards. Her quiet, reserved manner, warm and compassionate smile really make Cullen's description of her as the girl with "young eyes with an old soul" appropriate. It's her quiet but potent presence and role that makes her outshine Minnie Driver (Kendal), who herself is good in this movie.

Keone Yong (Harrison Tang, the wine dealer) has an amusing moment where he plays guitar and sings a funny song in Chinese. His performance either bemuses or dumbfounds his listeners. Michael A Rodgers stands out as Paul, the arboreal hermit brother of Ross.

As Ross says in an onscreen narration, it's "so easy to lose perspective on life. It's also not hard as you think to get your perspective back." And this quirky film with its oddballs is a ticklish but heartwarming vintage.

A friend recommended this movie to me, said to take it with a grain of salt. Not your typical Hollywood movie. I love it and watch it all the time. I never get tired of it. It is wonderful and rich, funny and touching. Nothing offensive or of questionable values in the movie. Wouldn't ever be embarrased watching it with your kids, or anyone else. Great movie.

"The world needs more people capable of just sitting still!" This movie has charm, wit, and best of all depth. The characters are well developed. Sometimes what we are searching for is right under our feet. Give this movie a try. I had to watch it a couple of times to really love it. Try it with the captions to get all the dialogue. The music is gorgeous as well.

What a remarkable surprise! This film gives the viewer a strong experience--and so a first-hand understanding--of the incredibly subtle and profound topic it addresses. Watching it I felt confused, disoriented, annoyed, fascinated, intrigued, and ultimately awed by the way it wove in the loose ends for the finale. No details were overlooked. The highest praise I can give is that I have felt compelled to watch this movie several times, and have gotten more from it every time. It is a delightful and gentle work of art that will work in the back of your mind long afterward.

I thought Uncorked was absolutely delightful! Some may argue that it is too Utopian, too ideal. But wouldn't you love to find that place? I watched the movie with my parents, and I asked them, "Can we move there?" It wasn't just the beauty of the land, it was the atmosphere: you can be happy without earning money as long as you can find what is right for you. Yes, I am a dreamer. But all I know is I, the dreamer, am a lot happier than everyone else I know. The characters were beautiful as well. Perhaps a little too perfect, but wouldn't you love to know that family? I want to be a part of that family I too am a "young girl with the old spirit" like Laurie. Perhaps I will nevr find the Utopia that Ross and Paul and Laurie and Mya and Uncle Cullen have found, but I will always dream of it. Uncorked made me believe I could find it, if only I can let go and be me.

"And what are you going to be when you grow up?" We have all been asked this at some point. Those of us who forgot the answer live unhappy lives. Those who reminisce, live but are not happy. To those who are happy, the answer is not a memory but a way of life.

Uncorked takes a charming and witty glimpse into the soul of a confused young man whose life is going in every direction, with little success or joy. A seemingly haphazard compilation of events unites seamlessly and stops him in his tracks. He learns to face reality, not his versions of it. He realizes that happiness is not some ephemeral state, more mythic than real, but the direct and attainable result of a purposeful existence.

Uncorked has achieved that illusive state of complex simplicity. Nothing in it is superfluous. Every element enhances the theme, be it the script, photography, music. Most rewarding of all, this story is a light one. You need not cringe at the prospect of viewing it. It will not depress you; it will uplift. It will not tire you; it will rejuvenate. It will make you laugh just as you begin to cry. It is a work of art!

Practically Buddhist in his philosophical beliefs, eccentric uncle Nigel Hawthorne spends his time in comtemplation of the universe(from atop a marble pillar on his vast estate). His meditations enable him to see into the true nature of his family and friends, and so he forces them to face their true desires and destinies. The journey to one's destiny, however, can be a difficult one. The path to love may lead you away from the one you're engaged to, and the path to true happiness away from the object of your desires. Blissfully amusing, insightfull, beautifully choreographed, saturated with skilled performances, and woven deftly with graceful music, this film is a must see! The characters discard their egos and fears and find deep inner peace, which leaves the audience truely sated--a thing few films can inspire. It's the kind of film that unfolds like a budding flower, intelligent but not overly intellectual, and with beauty in the most unexpected places.