Corked (2009)

Today's documentary is Corked.  Well, it's not actually a documentary, it's a mockumentary.  That's a scripted movie performed as if it were an actual documentary, and makes fun of the subject it is studying.  If you've seen any films by Christopher Guest, these are the funniest mockumentaries.  This one is obviously very influenced by Guest's style.

This film takes us through the daily lives of winemakers as they prepare for an upcoming festival.  I'm sure the winemakers in different countries have different ways of life, but the film only focuses on the California Wine Country in Sonoma. 

There are many different kinds of winemakers:

• The snobby winery owner who feels his clientele are better than everyone else because they enjoy his fermented grape drink. He is untrusting of his migrant workers in the fields, and harsh to the workers inside the processing area. Obviously votes Republican.
• The rich boy whose millionaire father purchased a winery for him so he could run it and not be a failure for once in his life. He has many ideas, terrible ideas, but they're ideas!  Can he take his new career seriously, or is it time to party?
• The frustrated manager who has to control the rich boy and reject all his really stupid ideas. He has to make wine, there is no time to babysit!
• The hardworking one man show. He does everything from harvest the grapes, process them, create the wine, make labels and distributes them. Can a small business owner compete with the big time wineries?

As we see each winemaker in his natural habitat, we learn that there will be a wine festival coming up soon, and a pretigiuos wine critic is coming to sample their wines! How exciting! Will he judge fairly, or is this festival simply a popularity contest? We'll soon find out. I'll give this movie a 6.5/10.