Netflix Pick – Sour Grapes
Astonishingly I saw so many good things in a row I had a hard time picking (not finding) which to recommend for this week! I like to keep at least one or two on the back burner in case I have a week of Netflix duds. This week’s Netflix Pick is an entertaining Documentary/Investigation about a unique but highly lucrative con. Sour Grapes follows the world of wine connoisseurs and an impostor that took them all for a ride.
The world of high end wines is completely foreign to me. It’s essentially reserved for the filthy rich who have money to burn. One rich woman in the documentary so eloquently calls the kind of money used ‘f*ck you money.’ The closed group of wine connoisseurs was booming in the late nineties and into the early 2000’s due to the dot com boom. At this time, wine wasn’t just something to be drunk with dinner, it was something to be lived. Uniquely as well, it was something that could be invested in. Wine auction houses were places for people to gather and spend a considerable amount of money on wines.
When Rudy Kurniawan arrives on the scene his charming personality and extensive knowledge of wine impresses every single person in this high society club. Without ever revealing much about his background Rudy works his way through the entire circle. He spends exorbitant amounts of money every month on wine and in no time at all is essentially controlling the market. Bottles he buys are worth triple what they were in a relatively short amount of time.
Rudy begins working with one of the smaller wine auction houses to resell much of his collection. The smallest wine auction house grows to be the biggest in less than a year. The amount of bottles and wine being passed through is staggering, even to those rich people interviewed for the documentary. Slowly people start to see small inconsistencies only true connoisseurs could notice.
An international investigation is launched and the plot really twists as it unfurls.
Written as a documentary but playing out more like a written drama, Sour Grapes was surprisingly interesting. I was under some incorrect impressions but was not disappointed with how the film came out.
I actually had to double check that this was, in fact, a doc. The quality of the interviews and archival footage is fantastic. Even the footage of Rudy Kurniawan was expertly used, so much so I thought it was an actually good recreation. When the investigation goes off the footage is repeated, some of it more than once, but never with tired redundancy or because a lack of options. As new information is given the old information is revisited under new light. It’s a fascinating bit of editing to show the audience the same thing a few times without it being tired.
One of the most impression bits does dip a toe into spoiler territory. DO NOT READ FURTHER IF YOU ARE CONCERNED ABOUT MINOR SPOILERS. As the investigation goes everyone is keen to get justice. The other collectors feel cheated and duped. They want Rudy to answer for what he has done. When it comes down to the wire, this is where it really gets interesting, a lot of them feel a sort of remorse. Some even forget their anger. The experiences they had are more important than the money or the duplicity. When the hammer falls on who the courts do deem guilty justice is carried out, and it isn’t. The documentary ends on the documentary equivalent to a cliff hanger, or an open ending.
Sour Grapes is a surprisingly engaging documentary with more dramatic feelings than informational. It’s incredibly well executed and shines a light on a world most people never even get a glimmer of.
