Walk in the Clouds (1995)

"I love this movie. I love every single thing about it!  Roger Ebert
"Marvelous...A very special film. Two thumbs up!  Siskel & Ebert
"With its golden countryside, sweeping score, tender romance, and powerful traditions, it's virtually impossible to resist the spell of A Walk in the Clouds.  Betsy Bozdech, Reel.com
"Engaging romantic fable about a young man who fulfils his destiny by falling in love with the woman of his dreams.  Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice
"Reeves and Sanchez-Gijon generate a palpaple romantic chemistry...  Michael Dequina, Mr. Brown's Movies
"...Reeves emerges as a mature, charismatic movie star...  Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

Editor's Note A young soldier, returning to California's wine country following WWII, discovers he no longer loves his wife. He befriends a pregnant girl on a bus and fatefully agrees to pose as her husband to help her avoid her vineyard-owner father's wrath. A romantic fantasy from the director of LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE.

	Aitana Sanchez-Gijon
	Angelica Aragon
	Anthony Quinn
	Keanu Reeves
	Debra Messing
	Giancarlo Giannini
	Alphonso Arau - Director
	James D. Brubaker - Executive Producer
	Leo Brouwer - Musical Score
	Maurice Jarre - Musical Score
	Gil Netter - Producer
	Cesare Zavattini - Screenplay
	Piero Tellini - Screenplay

Rolling Stone
"...Gorgeous..." 08/24/1995 p.110

Variety
"...[A] glossy, fairy-tale romance....[The] tech credits are uniformly excellent..." 07/31/1995

Chicago Sun-Times
"...A WALK IN THE CLOUDS is a glorious romantic fantasy, aflame with passion and bittersweet longing..." 08/11/1995 p.35

San Francisco Chronicle 9 of 10
In his last two films, Johnny Mnemonic and Speed, Keanu Reeves looked alert and competent, but there were still traces of the old fuzziness behind the eyes. But in A Walk in the Clouds he doesn't look dumb at all. The fuzziness is suddenly and definitely gone, and Reeves emerges as a mature, charismatic movie star... - Mick LaSalle

ReelViews 7 of 10
Of all the different kinds of movies, love stories are likely to provoke the widest variety of reaction, since personal preference is such a crucial element in evaluating these films. It's far easier to agree on what constitutes a solid drama or enjoyable comedy than an effective romance. Scenes which melt some hearts will churn the stomachs of others. A Walk in the Clouds, director Alfonso Arau's followup to Like Water for Chocolate, is such a picture. There are moments when this movie is absolutely magical, but the ending lays it on much too thick...For more than an hour, A Walk in the Clouds is thoroughly enchanting. With spectacular visuals and a script laced with little romantic touches, the first seventy-five minutes weave a spell that will dissipate the cynicism of even the grumpiest viewer. But then the melodrama, which is initially light and innocuous, asserts its presence and draws the film into a ponderously silly climax. Even the most beautifully-realized love story can't camouflage this kind of flaw...As was true of Like Water for Chocolate, A Walk in the Clouds has an ethereal feel. Shots of the vineyard, enhanced by post-production visual effects, are breathtaking. Arau has molded a world of romance and fantasy. One scene in particular stands out as a reflection of all that's right about the movie: the women, including the "newly married" Victoria, dance around in a giant tub of newly-harvested grapes, crushing the fruit with their feet. It is sensual, erotic, and joyous...The most disconcerting thing about A Walk in the Clouds' tendency towards overt melodrama is that almost all of it is totally unnecessary. Minor script changes could have eliminated huge chunks of this, leaving behind an uplifting love story. Even as it is, however, there's still something special about the motion picture. I just wish the final half-hour hadn't been such a bloated disappointment. - James Berardinelli

Chicago Sun-Times 10 of 10
"A Walk in the Clouds" is a glorious romantic fantasy, aflame with passion and bittersweet longing. One needs perhaps to have a little of these qualities in one's soul to respond fully to the film, which to a jaundiced eye might look like overworked melodrama, but that to me sang with innocence and trust...The movie, set in the vineyards of Northern California in the months right after World War II, tells the story of a young man and woman who meet at a time of crisis in both of their lives, who agree to pretend to be married, and who end up desperately in love just when the pretense is about to fail. The plot lovingly constructs one barrier after another to their happiness, so that we can rejoice as each one falls, only to be even more alarmed at the next. And it sets their story in a place of breathtaking beauty...The movie opens with Paul (Keanu Reeves) returning home from the war, to a wife he married one day before he shipped out. He doesn't know her, and she hardly understands him. There should never have been a marriage. Now nothing is left. Paul leaves San Francisco on a bus; another passenger is Victoria Aragon (Aitana Sanchez-Gijon)...For me, the most touching scene in the movie is the one where Paul stands beneath Victoria's window, singing a Mexican love song that he has just learned. I know this scene has no business in a movie made in 1995. I know it belongs in an old Italian opera. But so what? "A Walk in the Clouds" is the kind of film you have to give yourself to, open yourself to. Logic and cynicism will get you nowhere with this one. Oh, it will show you're tough, and can't be fooled, and no one can slip these ancient romantic notions past you...But if you can resist the scene where he sings beneath her window, then for you I offer this wish, that no one ever sing beneath your window. Even if sometimes you find yourself listening. - Roger Ebert