A Walk in the Clouds (1995)

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Gentlemen, feel free to leave the room when your girlfriend rents this movie. If she makes you watch it with her, feel free to rent the manliest, most action-packed movie you can find during your next movie night. A Walk in the Clouds is a total chick flick.Keanu Reeves, a WWII veteran, meets Aitana Sanchez-Gijon on a train, but there's a bit of an obstacle preventing it from being love at first meeting. He's already married, and her community-and her father, Giancarlo Giannini, in particular-is very old-fashioned and very Catholic, and Aitiana has gotten herself in the family way without a husband. Back in that time, in that culture, it was a big deal to tell your family you're about to be an unwed mother. Keanu tells her not to worry: he'll come home with her, pretend to be her husband for one day, and then be on his merry way. Since this is a chick flick, and a very sappy romance-along the lines of In Love and War or Captain Corelli's Mandolin-of course, Keanu stays more than one day, at the insistence of the warm-hearted, benevolent grandpa Anthony Quinn. There's romance, kisses in the rain, and grape stomping-an expected scene since it takes place in Napa-and before too long, Keanu and Aitana fall in love. Parts of it are pretty sappy, but if you go into it knowing that, it might be too disappointing. This isn't my favorite romantic drama, but if you've got a crush on Keanu you might want to check it out.

This film is a magical fairytale of love, struggle, and romance, directed by the brilliant Mexican director Alfonso Arau ('Like Water for Chocolate'). Keanu Reeves has never been better at being a 'good guy', here tormented by his origins as an orphan, betrayed by a frivolous young wife, returning from War with a head full of hopes only to meet with the apparent collapse of all of his prospects. But Fate intervenes, and he meets the amazingly, delicately beautiful Aitana Sanchez-Gijon. She is the half-Spanish, half-Italian actress who two years later was so brilliant in 'The Chambermaid of the Titanic' (see my review). She has all the freshness of a rose which has just opened in the morning dew. This is what Penelope Cruz was like before she went to Hollywood. The story concerns her family, the Aragons. Her mother is played radiantly by the Mexican actress Angelica Aragon, and her intense and domineering father by the Italian actor Giancarlo Giannini. One of the finest performances in the film is by Anthony Quinn. He was rarely better than this. It is little known that he was born in Mexico, half Irish, half Mexican. Since his middle name was Oaxaca, his mother must have been a Zapotec Indian. Here he is utterly in his element, since the story is of an ancient Spanish family with a vineyard in the Napa Valley of California. Whether such people still exist anymore, I doubt. But this is a fantasy, very similar to the wonderful series of three novels by Bret Harte, commencing with 'A Waif of the Plains'. Certainly these days, as Hispanics become more and more important in America, more films like this should be made exploring the early Spanish settler traditions. Much was made of this sort of thing in Hitchcock's 'Vertigo', but the lead was not followed up by subsequent mainstream directors. This film is a poignant story of how the lost and lonely orphan Keanu Reeves finds true love and acceptance at last in the bosom of a family and in the arms of one of the most delectable gals imaginable. But he only achieves this by being noble, generous, kind, unbelievably tolerant and patient, and by being tested in every conceivable way. Reeves could not possibly have played this character so well unless he had a lot of these qualities himself. The film is a wonderful achievement, the period costumes and sets are perfect, the buildings are authentic Spanish survivals from various places in the Napa Valley, apparently, the atmosphere is pure magic, the vicissitudes are harrowing, but love and devotion and goodness conquer all. This is actually a romantic film from an adult perspective which children can safely see, and that's saying something these days. No grunting in corners, as the emphasis is on love, - remember love? It used to exist. Maybe it will come back one day. We need more films like this to encourage us. We also need more Aitana Sanchez-Gijons, if we can remember and pronounce their names, that is. Etana was Sumerian for 'eagle'. I wonder if there is any connection with Aitana, as she has the same noble quality. This film is an eagle, it soars, it truly soars.

Having seen this in maybe 1996, it was a long time ago. I still remember feeling ill at ease at the acting of Reeves and even Aitana and the awkward way the plot was carried and scenes were wrenched. Now thinking about it, I remember and feel much. I wish to see this movie yet again to see why I remember the emotion I felt then, so well, so many years later. I came to like Reeves awkward style and I miss not seeing again the inner beauty of Aitana that seems to outshine her looks (not easy), I guess Italy is the luckier. It also is a fond memory for Anthony Quinn . I should try and find "The Machinist". Well then, just out of sappy compassion I gave it another star, even though I over rated it before. There is more than meets the eye.

A Walk in the clouds is based on a Italian story. This is about two strangers who are drawn towards each other despite the problems that came their way. Paul Shutton (KEanu Reaves) returns home from war only to find his wife Betty (Debra) totally indifferent towards him. Upon her insistence he leaves the town to sell chocolates and make fortune out of it. On the way, he met Victoria (Aitana Sanchez) who is returning back to her family.They become friends and Victoria tells him that she is pregnant from a man and hence scared to face her family as they are very conservative. Seeing her plight, Paul decides to enter her house as her husband and desert her the next morning that will spare her from a unmarried mother status and the wrath of her family. He enters their house and become the favorite of her grandpa though her father disliked him. When he tries to leave next morning, her grandpa asks him to wait till wine harvest. During this stay both became close to each other and understood their passion for each other.The cinematography is the real hero of the movie. Each landscape has been picturized with a painter's view in mind. Musics are too nice so as the flow of the story.