HONOLULU ADVERTISER – ISLAND LIFE – ORIGINALLY POSTED APRIL 18, 2010
HARD-ROCK VINEYARD by Amanda Stevens

Back in the 1990s, when Tool’s frontman was belting out “Stinkfist,” who’d have thought he’d become a winemaker?

Yet here comes “Blood Into Wine,” a documentary following Maynard James Keenan as he shares his passion for winemaking and swirls cabernet with Milla Jovovich.

“Blood Into Wine,” directed by Ryan Page and Christopher Pomerenke, documents a year in the life of metal-rocker Keenan (Tool, A Perfect Circle, Puscifer) as he breaks into the world of winemaking on a northern Arizona vineyard. Keenan faces frost, water rights disputes and industry prejudice in the region, and though you see glimpses of an outlaw attitude, he’s surprisingly soft-spoken, and he acts like an excited kid when he’s describing his vineyard. Guy looks good in a cowboy hat, too. This could entice former metal-heads who’ve never touched a wine bottle to give it a try.

See “Blood Into Wine” at the HIFF Spring Showcase, 6 p.m. Thursday at the Regal Dole Cannery Stadium 18; $12, $8 for HIFF members.

If this film gets you in the mood for wine, check out Sip with HIFF, 6 p.m. Friday at Fujioka’s, Market City Shopping Center; $50, $45 HIFF members.

For more on both events, call 792-1577. Get tickets at http://www.hiff.org.

— Amanda Stevens