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Wine Crush (Vas-y Coupe!) is a beautifully observed portrait of seasonal labor at a family-owned vineyard in France.
Every year for the harvest, a motley team of
laborers travels from the north of France to the celebrated Selosse vineyard in the Champagne region. Many of them have been picking these grapes for a quarter century and, though the work can be grueling, there is a cherished comfort in the comradery, the lovingly prepared meals and the late-night partying. But as the winemaker begins to hand over the business to his son – and younger workers increasingly join the team – it is unclear if this harvest tradition can endure.
Weaving intimate vérité scenes through the whirlwind labor of the harvest, Wine Crush (Vas-y Coupe!) is an immersive and affectionate look at a revolutionary natural Champagne-maker and his loyal workers, and an exploration of French social class, tradition and community.
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"I hoped to tell more than a simple harvest story, to quietly upturn expectations, touching on issues of class, aging, gender, and social struggle. But, just as the workers themselves somehow seem to transform hard labor into a days-long party with friends, I aim to present these issues with the immersive, lyrical momentum of observational cinema, and of the harvest itself." -
Filmmaker Laura Naylor
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"Engrossing...illuminating. A
thorough, faithful portrait of the winemaking toils...the film’s beauty is in the meditative approach to showing the labor of all who have a part in Jacques Selosse’s output." - Katya Kazbek, Supamodu
"Sharp-eyed and affable." - Kent Turner, Film-Forward.com
"Immediately compelling...fascinating.
Rather than awkwardly suggest people put their soul into the champagne to give it body, Vas-y Coupe! suggests the opposite in showing how the annual harvest brings out the humanity of all involved. Director Laura Naylor strikes the right balance in emphasizing the challenges at all levels of the operation, the dignity of the work and the satisfaction it provides, underlined nicely by Ryan de Franco’s elegant cinematography and Brian Bender and Deniz
Cuylan’s equally graceful score. Befitting of the beverage that is ultimately produced, the chronicle of a season in wine country offers a gratifying taste of life there."
- Stephen Saito, The Moveable Feast
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