A walk in the clouds, 1995

A walk in the clouds, 1995
Director: Alfonso Arau
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Altana Sanchez Gijon, Anthony Quinn



Stage: home theatre, Sunday TV selection

A walk in the clouds in short: After returning from the war, Paul and a young woman meet on a bus as she's headed home from college to help with the grape harvest and face her Old World domineering dad. The woman has not married but is pregnant and she thinks her father is going to kill her. Paul proposes to pose as her husband to help her face her father. When their passion for each other is finally ignited and explodes, they realize they must overcome all odds to be together.



Preps: Normalwise (and I don't get it why), Slovene TV selection on a Sunday night poses something extraordinary or at least decent. On the other hand, Saturday and Friday nights are usually reserved for crappy movies. At least haven't seen one good in a while. So my expectations to finish up a lovely weekend with a movie, are now more than decent. And Keanu is one of my favourite actors anyway.. Apart from this fact, I have heard this piece is a strong one.



Reality: Well, the plot is quite good. And strong. However, the cast seems awful at the beginning. I seriously doubt that there are such gentlemen in the world, that would go and support a woman in that way. I think.. naaaah, not a chance. To lie to a family just for the sake of her facing the parents? Well, the relationship with her parents is built on a solid ground and has the factor of probability very well embedded inside. And I go with it, in a sense I buy it. But the relationship between Keanu and Aitana? Very shallow, yet inspiring. How much crap can a man take from the father of a girl he likes (or at the beginning he just feels sorry for)?

I am impressed with powerful scenes within family conversations. Have seen quite a few in reality and some entities are quite realistic. Therefore, a big plus for showing family values in such a way. I wouldn't buy it in any fiction, however the story allows Keanu to repeat and repeat his gentlemenism over and over again. Showing maybe that he has no backbone - or maybe that he has stronger than any average person? I am not sure. The dilussions he's having when drifting away into WW2 dream are a bit too much to eat up in this piece, in my opinion, quite unimportant and could be easily left out.

The romance deriving is very chick-oriented and I am sure most of the romantic souls should get it and embrace it. A bit too much for a guy when seeing this. Maybe in the arms of a girl he likes and regarding the fact she might like him for being so supportive and watch it with her. My strong opinion is that this piece should be seen in the company of a girlfriend (at least two girls). Too much teasers inside for a girl company. Guys, stay away.

For both genders, however, the movie poses some excellent ideas what to do on your next trip, family holiday or something. The place, where most of the movie is taken, seems like paradise and all the people inside act as if they are in heaven. Are they? Don't know for sure, but popped into my mind as one of the next wanna-be-holliday resorts for me and my piece. So, the photography is brilliant, the scenery is more than amazing. Almost no music at all and the dialogue is weak.

A beautiful and picturesque showing of picking up the grapes and turning it into the wine. The girls, barefoot, walking on the grapes - almost a bit of an erotic scene. Seems very real :)


My personal rating: 6,0 (you will fall in love with the scenery and for sure will want to experience this in one of your next vacations. And a scent of decent guy, that knows how to be a gentleman, will also drag your attention).


A walk on IMDB