If the attendees of the Busan film festival’s parties suddenly turn their drinking preferences from soju to red wine, then Red Obsession will be the film to blame. This informative and entertaining documentary begins in France’s Bordeaux region, and travels to some unexpected places. Outlining the machinations of elite wine manufacture and the rise of exclusive wines for investment purposes, the documentary tracks the beginning of a financial bubble likened to Holland’s Tulipmania of 1637. Australian documentarians Warwick Ross and David Roach investigate the French wine companies who, focussed on expanding their profit margin, journey to China to explore the world’s fastest growing luxury goods consumer market. Astutely employing Napoleon’s aphorism about the “sleeping dragon”, the punning aspect of this documentary’s title becomes clear. The world’s pivot toward China is reflected in the wine-dark sheen of Bordeaux wines, but Ross and Roach never get hysterical about it. Taking advantage of the grounded baritone of Russell Crowe at his gladiatorial best, the film keeps a sober eye on the heady blend of wealth, wine and what is increasingly becoming China’s world. (Russell EDWARDS)