Joe Pantoliano has been put out to pasture, quite literally, in this film about finding yourself in rural Italy. Pantoliano, who contorted our minds in Christopher Nolan's Memento, double-crossed us in The Matrix, and ran with the mob in The Sopranos, is now making wine in the idyllic Italian town of Acerenza.
Yep, Pantoliano's career arc has a familiar ring to it; quality actor hits retirement age and is shoe-horned into a "twilight-years film". Think Diane Keaton, Bill Nighy, and, well, pretty much the entire cast of Marigold Hotel. But there is something endearing about the "find yourself in retirement" flick that has struck a notable chord with its audience — so much that it's pretty much become a genre in its own right and From the Vine has set down roots firmly at its centre.
Based on a Kenneth C. Cancellara's book Finding Marco, the film tells the story of Marco Gentile, a high-flying executive from Toronto who abruptly up-sticks and moves to Italy to tend to his late grandfather's derelict vineyard. Spurred on by the nostalgia of his upbringing and the callous nature of his job, Marco's late-life crisis hits fever pitch where, among the sun-dappled vines, he attempts to atone for the environmentally destructive nature of the company he once worked for by reviving the old vineyard.
