Taglines: The grape never falls far from the vine.
From the Vine Movie Storyline. Based on a Kenneth C. Cancellara’s book Finding Marco, From the Vine 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.
From the Vine is a Canadian drama film, directed by Sean Cisterna and released in 2019. Based on the novel Finding Marco by Kenneth Canio Cancellara, the film stars Joe Pantoliano as Marco Gentile, a burned-out business executive from Toronto who gives up on the corporate rat race, and moves his family to Italy to revive his grandfather’s vineyard in Acerenza.
The film also stars Wendy Crewson as Marco’s wife Marina and Paula Brancati as their daughter Laura, as well as Marco Leonardi, Tony Nardi, Tony Nappo, Kevin Hanchard and Frank Moore in supporting roles. The film premiered in June 2019 at the Italian Contemporary Film Festival in Toronto, and subsequently received other film festival screenings through the summer, although its October screening at Devour! The Food Film Fest was billed as its official North American premiere.
The film was originally scheduled to enter commercial release on May 1, 2020, although this was cancelled due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. It was instead released on digital platforms in July 2020.
Film Review for From the Vine
From the Vine stars Joe Pantoliano as Marco Gentile, Wendy Crewson as his wife Marina and Paula Brancati as his daughter Laura. In significant roles are – Marco Leonardi as Luca the policeman, Tony Nardi as Marcello who has been taking care of the vines – but just enough so no one wants to buy the place, Tony Nappo as Enzo the squatter, Franco Lo Presti as Gio, son of policeman Luca and Anna Rita Del Piano as Amelia a childhood friend.
CEO Mark Gentile experiences a moral crisis. At his lowest, he has an epiphany, walks away, and travels back to the small town of Acerenza of his childhood to re-calibrate his life.
Mark is an Italian-Canadian car company corporate lawyer and CEO who appears to be having a midlife crisis, and simply gone bonkers by all accounts. He cannot swallow sacrificing his personal values for business interests and walks away from his job to return to his place of birth, Acerenza in southern Italy. All this without so much as a warning to his wife who finds her husband has quit his job and plans to fly to Italy literally overnight.
Upon landing, he reconnects with childhood friends and moves into his late Nonno’s (grandfather) house and vineyard after not having been back in 45 years. At the confessional looking for answers, the priest tells him the answer lies in service to something other than himself. He decides to reopen the vineyard on the property, but young and strong labour is non-existent as the youth have left Acerenza long ago. Now a half-empty town of old people, with the help of a rag-tag team looking for an income, he goes about bringing life back to the old vineyards.
What grabs you the most in this film is the splendid cinematography and the seemingly idyllic laid back lifestyle in Acerenza. It breathes refreshingly of sun-kissed foreign lands and promised sea-change adventures, much like Under the Tuscan Sun. With beautiful, spacious, rural southern Italian landscapes filling the screen to distract you, you can easily forgive that the film is predictable and done better many times before. However, there’s nothing wrong with predictable films or we wouldn’t keep watching it. So sit back and watch a comfortably familiar story unfold.
Take from it the joy of an aesthetically pleasing film, if not intellectually compelling. This fantasy just may be what the doctor ordered in these unprecedented times. The locals of Acerenza will keep you entertained with their over-the-top personalities that provides enough comic relief to give the film some much-needed identity. Pantoliano gives an endearing enough performance and fleshes out his character to be something more interesting than just being put out to pasture. He’s easily the best thing about this sweetly-undemanding story with gorgeous Italian scenery.
From the Vine (2020)
Directed by: Sean Cisterna
Starring: Joe Pantoliano, Wendy Crewson, Paula Brancati, Sonia Dhillon Tully, Rita del Piano, Michele Stefanile, Kevin Hanchard, Tony Nappo, Blu Lepore
Screenplay by: Willem Wennekers
Production Design by: Alfonso Rastelli
Cinematography by: Scott McClellan
Film Editing by: Andrew Wall
Costume Design by: Marissa Schwartz
Art Direction by: Carlo Brunori
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Indiecan Entertainment
Release Date: June 2019 (ICFF), October 9, 2020 (United States)
