Soul of Wine - Oil & Garlic
Hired to execute a fresco in a small spanish village, a young painter tastes the art of living… just a simple, tormented, authentic love story played around the theme of wine.
Under heavy downpours, a young painter arrives in a small village of Franco's Spain. He has been engaged to make a mural on the walls of a restaurant. The first days after arrival are spent to get imbued with the leisurely pace of rural life, local gastronomy and… well wined fiestas. He lets himself be seduced by the local good wine… and falls in love with Rosa. And, simply, life keeps flowing… until arrival of a stranger, an unknown lady who will arouse Rosa's jealousy…
Far from the usual moralizing discourses on the evils of alcohol, this comic is the first volume of a series of complete stories around the theme of wine. The drink that sometimes makes you drunk, and sometimes eases contact makings…
Efa sums up his ambition at the 12th plate: "It's strange how wine can bring us either closer or, on the contrary, take us far apart… is it the soul of wine that controls our actions, our emotions… why can love arise in a way so futile and disappear just because the limit has been exceeded"
Via script and drawing, we are plunged, by Efa's poetry, in a small village of Spain under Franco dictatorship, to taste a first slice of life based upon human relations. Philippe, Rosa, Mr Robert… are all rendered as credible and endearing enough characters with well-hardened latin natures, but without overdoing it. By use of sensitive narration, regular cuttings and clear modern graphics, Efa finds the right tone for a love story, at once tender and tormented, or simple and full of surprises.
Efa sums up his ambition at the 12th plate: "It's strange how wine can bring us either closer or, on the contrary, take us far apart… is it the soul of wine that controls our actions, our emotions… why can love arise in a way so futile and disappear just because the limit has been exceeded"
