Commentary – Story of Wine

The Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival chose a food related film for closing night, much to Tinsel & Tine’s delight! Followed by a party in the lobby of IHouse where the film was screened, featuring wines from World Shippers and Importers and catered by Steven Starr’s Elvez.

Story of Wine is delightful entertainment, it’s Korean with English subtitles, which I’m not sure technically makes it Asian American. In fact, I was even going to link the interview of the actors on youtube, but that would require a translator.

The film opens up to a celebration, a Wine Bar named Story of Wine is celebrating it’s 1 year anniversary. After the guests leave, The bar owner, Min-sung,(KiWoo Lee) a Korean Clark Kent type, opens up a bottle to share with “the gang”, which consists of two regular patrons, his patrician faced,wine steward, the crazy steam pork restaurant owner from next door and his mentor.

The mentor mentions that the wines were not listed in the correct order on the menu. Min-sung explains the wines are listed in order of their stories. We are then told three tales where a particular vintage plays a significant role. The stories not only give us a history of how far the Wine bar has come in a year, but we are treated to a very sweet romance involving two patrons.

Story of Wine is an inviting film, and with it’s cozy, contemporary interior, would make for an inviting place to actually while away a couple of hours sniffing and sipping a few glasses of vino.

[Director Cheol-ha Lee]

Rating: 4 Tines