ManiakJiggy This is How Movies Should Be Made

Libramedi Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

BroadcastChic Excellent, a Must See

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

ctomvelu1 Reeves plays a GI back from the war who crosses paths with a young Hispanic woman on her way home, having been impregnated by one of her professors. She is convinced her old-world father will kill her, so the soldier offers to pose as her husband for one day. Of course, they quickly fall for each other, but this is complicated by the tyrannical father's hatred of this gringo, and the fact that the soldier is actually married to someone else. Beautifully photographed with a great musical score, this oddball romance should appeal to most females and sensitive males. Reeves and his costar, whose name I can't spell, are wonderful together. Giannini makes a great dastardly dad, and Quinn does his Zorba routine as the loving grandpa and family patriarch. The whole thing plays out like a fairy tale, sort of like "Pretty Woman." Which is to say, you won't believe it for one minute but you go along with it. And be prepared: The ending of this leisurely paced film is rather abrupt. An American director would have done a bit more, and staged a lavish wedding.

alloneloveall A Walk In The Clouds is a lovely and unabashedly romantic film with gorgeous cinematography and a strong cast. Keanu Reeves is authentic as the orphan soldier who tries to help the beautiful daughter of a well-established Spanish family that owns a vineyard and winery in Northern California. Aitana Sanchez-Gijon plays Victoria with heart and sensitivity, and she and Keanu seem like a couple from the moment they meet. Anthony Quinn, who plays her grandfather steals every scene he's in with his charming performance. Keanu and Anthony have great chemistry together, and look like they could be related since they are similar in their height and build, their noses and even their face shapes!Although it came out in 1995, it holds up visually, since it takes place after WWII. The production values, sets, costumes, and hairstyles are appropriate for the time period. I heartily recommend this for all die-hard romantics! And lastly - Roger Ebert liked it, 'nuff said!

robert-temple-1 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.

Tommy Nelson There are very few truly great romance movies. They have to have to have humor, along with the heart. They should have good acting, but mediocre acting is usually acceptable in romance movies. Most importantly, they have to control their clichéd corny cheesiness. Romance movies have a hard time from avoiding all the clichés, and this had some of the worst, clichéd, cheesiest moments ever. Unrealistic turn of events leading to a contrived, terrible love story.Paul (Keanu Reeves) has just gotten home from war, and all he wants to see is his wife. Unfortunately, his wife is nowhere to be seen, and is actually at home avoiding his letters. There was really no point in even giving him a wife, because she's out of the picture for the most part, and we move on to the actual plot, which is a shame, because Debra Messing is actually kind of amusing in a ditsy, over the top role....too bad. Paul is on his way to a grape field for his chocolate selling work, when he accidentally helps, falls on, gets thrown up on, and switches tickets with this nice young Hispanic woman, Victoria. After many more odd turn of events, he ends up pretending to be married to her. Then the plot switches to a slightly better, but still awful version of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. Victoria's Mexican father is very built on Spanish beliefs, so naturally he doesn't like Keanu Reeves, the gringo. The plot develops, Keanu Reeves remains emotionless in his performance, and it only gets stupider as it goes along. Anthony Quinn is annoying, but gives a pretty good performance, and so does Giancarlo Gianni as the overprotective father. Other than a few performances and an interesting musical score, this is a real loser of a film.My rating: * out of ****. 100 mins. PG-13 for sensuality.