Cinema Crazed

2006

Rated: Unrated

Genre: Short Romance Comedy

Directed By: Christian Remde

Running Time: 11 Minutes

Review by: Felix Vasquez Jr.

Review Date: 4/27/07

THE WINE BAR

One of the better facets of film tends to be how the unlikely become a sudden center of an interesting circumstance. Woody Allen’s romance with a teenage girl in “Manhattan,” a wine connoisseur battling with his life in “Sideways,” and a fish out of water suddenly fixing a relationship. Christian Remde’s “The Wine Bar” is an utterly entertaining and cute romance comedy about an unlikely man suddenly helping two people. Henry, who looks as if he suddenly stepped off of a Brooklyn street, wanders into a bar and discovers it’s actually an upscale bar that serves only wine. Annoyed and rather angry, he drinks wine in spite of his annoyance, and talks up a woman next to him.

He will not let her talk, he’s babbling, and he just rubs the bartender (William Sadler who is a high point) the wrong way. In his babbling he not only discovers she can’t talk, but also helps in a problem he’s brought to attention. Seth Fisher is just great as this man who is utterly annoying at the start and manages to inadvertently become a romantic hero. As the woman releases her problems on him through notes, he becomes an unwitting mediator between she and her boyfriend in a rather hilarious sequence.

Remde composes this scene so it doesn’t come off as utterly cheesy, and with Fisher’s delivery, and the top notch acting, it’s a great moment in the film that’s really a little over ten minutes long. Remde’s set piece truly matches the situation as this man who declares that he really does enjoy judging books by their covers, takes the audience for a loop. We judge him as a pure bonehead from the get go and he then proves us wrong, in the end. He’s maybe not such a bad guy after all, and managing to help two people seals the deal in the end. All because he accidentally walked into fate just because he wanted a beer; how utterly poetic.

Tight performances, pleasing direction, and a sweet story make Remde's short romance comedy utterly eloquent in its simplicity. In only eleven minutes Remde is able to tell a truly pleasing tale of an unlikely man becoming a saving grace for a failing relationship. Well done, Remde.

For more information on "The Wine Bar," visit the official website.

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