''From the Vine'' is a 2019 Canadian drama film, directed by

Sean Cisterna Sean Cisterna is a Canadian film director and producer from Orillia, Ontario, most noted for his 2019 film '' From the Vine''.Barry Hertz, "From the Vine is worth sipping, if only for Joe Pantoliano's drunk-on-life performance". ''The Globe and Mai ...

.Barry Hertz, "From the Vine is worth sipping, if only for Joe Pantoliano's drunk-on-life performance". ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'', July 10, 2020. Based on the novel ''Finding Marco'' by Kenneth Canio Cancellara, the film stars

Joe Pantoliano Joseph Peter Pantoliano (born September 12, 1951) is an American character actor who has appeared in over 150 films, television and stage productions. After his early roles in the television series ''M*A*S*H'' and the 1983 comedy ''Risky Busin ...

as Marco Gentile, a burned-out business executive from

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

who gives up on the corporate rat race, and moves his family to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

to revive his grandfather's vineyard in

Acerenza Acerenza ( Lucano: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata. History With its strategic position above sea-level, Acerenza has been sacked by a series of invaders. The town, then kno ...

. The film also stars

Wendy Crewson Wendy Jane Crewson (born May 9, 1956) is a Canadian actress and producer. She began her career appearing on Canadian television, before her breakthrough role in 1991 dramatic film '' The Doctor''. Crewson has appeared in many Hollywood films, inc ...

as Marco's wife Marina and

Paula Brancati Paula Brancati (born June 6, 1989) is a Canadian actress. She is known for her work on Canadian television, including roles on ''Being Erica'', ''Slasher'', ''Dark Oracle'', and most notably for playing Jane Vaughn on '' Degrassi: The Next Gene ...

as their daughter Laura, as well as

Marco Leonardi Marco Leonardi (born 14 November 1971) is an Italian actor. Leonardi was born in Australia to Italian parents. He moved to Italy at the age of four and at 17 starred in the acclaimed Italian film '' Cinema Paradiso'' (1988). He later starred i ...

Tony Nardi Tony Nardi (born 1958) is an Italian-Canadian actor, playwright and theatre director based in Toronto, who has performed on stage and in film and television. Fluent in four languages; he has appeared in French, Italian and English-language pro ...

Tony Nappo Antonio Nappo is a Canadian actor. He is best known for his roles in '' Four Brothers'', '' Saw II'', ''Land of the Dead'', '' Bad Blood'', and '' Born to be Blue''. He also is the voice of Jimmy Falcone (McDougal) in ''Fugget About It''. Biograp ...

Kevin Hanchard Kevin Hanchard (born July 4, 1974) is a Canadian actor, best known for his roles as Det. Arthur Bell in ''Orphan Black'' and Inspector Sematimba in ''The Expanse''. Hanchard currently appears as Superintendent Joseph Donovan in ''Hudson and Rex. ...

and Frank Moore in supporting roles. The film premiered in June 2019 at the

Italian Contemporary Film Festival The ICFF is a not-for-profit, publicly attended film festival in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, programming international films and taking place during the summer. Founded in 2012, ICFF has grown from a four-day, single-venue festival of 18 films, to ...

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 The COVID-19 pandemic in Canada is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (). It is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). Most cases over the course of the pandemic have been in Ontario, Que ...

.Simone Joseph
"The arts struggle to survive: Coronavirus' impact in York Region"
'' YorkRegion.com'', April 11, 2020. It was instead released on digital platforms in July 2020.

Premise

A downtrodden man experiences an

ethical Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns ma ...

crisis A crisis ( : crises; : critical) is either any event or period that will (or might) lead to an unstable and dangerous situation affecting an individual, group, or all of society. Crises are negative changes in the human or environmental affair ...

and travels back to his hometown in rural

to recalibrate his

moral compass A moral (from Latin ''morālis'') is a message that is conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event. The moral may be left to the hearer, reader, or viewer to determine for themselves, or may be explicitly encapsulated in a maxim. A ...

Cast

as Marco Gentile **Michele Stefanile as Young Marco Gentile *

as Marina Gentile *

as Laura Gentile *

as Luca *

as Marcello *

as Enzo * Franco Lo Presti as Gio *

as John * Rita del Piano as Amelia * Sonia Dhillon Tully as Barbara Cavendish * Frank Moore as Gordon Welsh * Blu Lepore as Customs Agent * Kenneth Canio Cancellara as Train Conductor

References

External links

* * 2019 films Canadian drama films English-language Canadian films Italian-language Canadian films Films shot in Toronto Films shot in Italy Films set in Toronto Films set in Basilicata Films based on Canadian novels Films not released in theaters due to the COVID-19 pandemic Films directed by Sean Cisterna 2010s Canadian films {{2010s-Canada-film-stub