Rating: 
Summary: Seriously awful sentimental blather
Review: I saw this originally in the theatre, but caught it again on late night TV recently. What a disappointment coming from the director, Alphonso Arau, of the sublime classic "Like Water for Chocolate"! "A Walk in the Clouds" is cut from another bolt of cloth completely -- the treacly, sentimental "women's movie" of the 50s -- and utterly lacking charm, intelligence, realistic emotion or even plot coherence. Be warned that this is NOT the delightful magic realism of "Water for Chocolate".There are so many lame, unbelievable details that its almost cruel to mention all of them. Paul (the flat, affectless Keanu Reeves, incapable of expressing anything remotely like romantic love) is a chocolate candy salesman who carries around ONE box of sample candy...in the heat of late summer. Apparently he is unconcerned about it melting in the heat or even about replacing the samples he offers to potential customers. Instead of selling the candy door to door in his native San Francisco, he somehow boards a train for Sacramento (even hotter!) but ends up in ... the Napa Valley. (Please consult a map to see why this is utterly ridiculous.) BTW: Look for Debra Messing (Will and Grace) in a small, thankless role as Paul's unfaithful wife. Victoria (Aitana Gijan) is a Mexican American graduate student who has gotten pregnant by her married college professor, and is inexplicably returning home to Napa, where she will face the anger and scorn of her traditional Mexican family. Anyone who could have written this knows exactly nothing about the period (just after the end of WWII) and is in a kind of denial about the real lifestyles of Mexican American women at that time. I'll bet that there were precious few Mexican Americans (men or women) attending graduate school at Berkley at that time, and if there was, it would remarkable and worth commenting on. Even a basic 4 year college degree was a big deal in the 40s, let alone a master's. (Ms. Gujan, who is very lovely, nonethess is a little too old to be playing a college student.) Additionally, it is more likely that an unwed pregnant girl of that time, with disaproving parents, would have gone to a home for Unwed Mothers and given her child up for adoption. There simply was not the casual acceptance of illegitimate children at that time -- it was a genuine scandal -- and that's easy to forget today when the very word "illegitimate" has practically disappeared from the language. Paul and Victoria decide to pretend to a sham marriage to fool her parents -- for one night! -- and then he'll abandon her, leaving her and the baby to the sympathy of her family. This definitely sounds like a plan that is NOT going to work right from the get-go, as everyone is (no surprise) highly suspicious of the situation. The two have prepared so little that they couldn't fool a bored INS investigator about their "relationship", as they clearly know nothing about one another. Although the story appears to start in summer and warm weather (the characters are wearing summer clothing), six hours after arriving at the family winery, the weather turns cold enough to actually cause the wine grapes to FREEZE. In other words, the temperature dropped from the 70s to below freezing...in September. This isn't really normal for the Napa Valley, which is the chief wine growing region of California precisely because it is so temperate. (BTW: the Aragon family lives in a kind of high-style palazzo that looks more like the ostentacious home of a 90s-era film producer than a real working vineyard.) It is a sad comment on this whole film that the views of the vineyard are misty CGI paintings, rather than real photography...a strange choice when the area being referrenced is known to be one of the most beautiful and photogenic in the world! Anyways, as the grapes are freezing, they put out gigantic smudge pots and all the characters grab giant silken "wings" and run out to the vineyards to perform rather elaborate "dances" to direct the heat to the grapes and prevent freezing. This looks and is perfectly ridiculous. I am also surprised that it works! Apparently so well that every member of the family apparently SLEEPS with such wings at the ready in case of sudden unseasonable frosts. (Victoria runs out to flap wings in her silk nightgown...a nightgown which a couple hours earlier she was too embarassed to allow Paul to glimse her in....how come she isn't shivering in this thin sleeveless garment when the presence of frost clearly indicates that the temperature is below freezing?) The movie is literally one gaff filled moment after another, like those I have mentioned above. The next morning -- after the freeze, which has miraculously lifted and the temperature gone back to the 70s -- it's harvest time! The next day! and a couple of days later...you got it. The entire vineyard burns to the ground...except one tiny blackened root which is, YUP, it's the foundation root brought all the way from Spain hundreds of years ago. Apparently they are going to restart an entire several hundred acre vineyard with ONE ROOT. I know that director Arau is Mexican and probably wanted to reference as much of his beloved homeland in this project as possible. Certainly there is a long history of Mexican Americans in California, so he had lots of choices. But I am fairly certain that the vast majority of vineyards in Napa were ITALIAN in the 1940s. Any of the hispanic actors cast could have convincingly played Italians and the old film this is based on was itself Italian. Making everyone Mexican is no more believable than making them Swedish or Lebanese...it's an affectation and utterly unrealistic. The whole movie has the feeling of a stale, artificial tasting bon bon (not unlike the candies that Paul is half-heartedly trying to sell) -- old, dried out, tasteless, synthetic and generally unpleasant. There is a place for old fashioned romance in movies, but "A Walk in the Clouds" sure is not it.
Rating: 
Summary: An excellent old-fashioned love story.
Review: I've enjoyed a number of Keanu Reeves' movies, from "Bill and Ted" and "The Matrix" to the more recent "Constantine." "A Walk in the Clouds" is one of his forays into the romance genre, and it's a favorite of mine in that category. The story begins during the waning days of WWII, where Army veteran Paul (Reeves) arrives in San Francisco after four years of combat. He makes his way home and surprises a wife he barely knows. After an awkward reunion, she practically shoves him out the door the next day with an admonition to start raking in the bucks by selling chocolates. The life of a traveling salesman is not what he had in mind, but he decides to make a go of it for her sake.
On a train bound for Sacramento, Paul literally bumps into Victoria, a mysterious, attractive Latino woman (Aitana Sanchez-Gijon) who immediately vomits on him. After a couple more odd encounters, they wind up together on the side of a country road. She tearfully informs Paul that her grad school professor-slash-lover impregnated and then dumped her. She fears that her ultra-conservative, autocratic father Alberto (Giancarlo Giannini) will kill her for soiling the Aragon family name by returning home an unwed mother. A scheme is hatched where Paul agrees to pose as Victoria's husband for a day, and then abandon her so she can save face. Of course, things don't quite work out so easily, especially when Paul and Victoria begin to have feelings for each other.
"A Walk in the Clouds" is a visual and relational treat. The scenery of the Aragon estate and surrounding vineyard is almost otherworldly in its lush beauty (hence the movie's title), and made me want to book the next flight to California wine country (even more than "Sideways" did). More impressive was the close-knit traditional Latino family atmosphere, dramatically embodied in the sensual winemaking ceremony, where the married women dance the newly harvested grapes into juice. However, all is not perfect in paradise. Alberto is threatened by his non-traditional daughter and Stanford educated son, who wants to apply modern business theory to the old-world winery. "Gringo" Paul becomes the focal point for his insecurities, and their conflict escalates towards an uncertain and traumatic resolution.
Some have criticized Keanu Reeves for having a "wooden" demeanor. True, he's not the most expressive performer in cinema. But his low-key acting style perfectly fits the character of Paul, a man of the stoic WWII generation dealing with PTSD and his status as an orphan. I was able to sympathize with and root for Paul throughout his journey, and I commend Mr. Reeves for enabling me to do that. The other actors also turn in excellent performances, especially the late Anthony Quinn as Don Pedro, the chocolate loving, brandy drinking sage patriarch who takes Paul under his wing. He provides a good contrast to Giannini's driven Alberto, so concerned about preserving his family that he's forgotten how to love them. And I can't leave out the lovely Aitana Sanchez-Gijon, whose passionate and intelligent Victoria is the thinking man's movie-character catch.
"A Walk in the Clouds" is one of the most romantic movies I've ever seen, and it holds up well under repeated viewings. Highly recommended.
WARNING: The next paragraph has some SPOILER content, but for those concerned with moral content I want to comment on Paul's character and must do so within the context of a choice he makes.
I was surprised and gladdened that Paul was an honorable man who valued family relationships and put the needs of others before his own desires. He doesn't take the easy way out from his albatross wife, even after finding the woman and family he's always longed for. Paul perseveres through sexual temptation, not because of dogma, but because he cares about Victoria and doesn't want to hurt her. Despite his feelings for Victoria, he demonstrates loyalty to his shallow, materialistic wife and tries to work things out. That kind of virtue is somewhat rare in a Hollywood production these days, and lends a welcome old-fashioned, family-friendly air to the movie (END OF SPOILER).
Rating: 
Summary: A nice little movie
Review: My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. My one negative comment has to do with Mr. Reeves. Keanu is nice to look at but his acting leaves something to be desired. When that first picturesque view of the vineyard is opened up to him he remarks "it's beautiful" with absolutely no tone, expression, or feeling in his voice. He doesn't really get any better as the movie goes on. Oh well, the only other Keanu movies I've seen are his "Bill and Ted" movies and I admit I quite often found myself reminded of his "Ted" character.
But aside from from this the movie overall was very enjoyable. I am a part of the minority that is offended by nudity, sex, and foul language in movies and TV. Face it, Hollywood just doesn't make too many high quality romances geared toward this minority group. We want good old-fashioned, leave all your clothes on till after the wedding, romances. So alas, when even a mediocre one comes along we get all excited and gushy over it - what else do we have to look forward to?
Rating:
Summary: Don't Be So Cynical
Review: I'm sorry -- but I don't think Keanu Reeves is wooden at all in this film. There is this "California" kind of personality -- like Harrison Ford, and Keanu Reeves is the new incarnation of this laid-back personaliity. I think that Keanu Reeves does a great job as a shell-shocked, Midwestern orphan who comes "home" to a very disaffected civil life. I loved this movie.
Rating:
Summary: Keanu's Best!
Review: This is one of my favorite movies. My husband and I have kind of adopted it as "our" movie. And he doesn't normally like these kind of films. The story is compelling, the characters memorable. Lose yourself in "the clouds" - it's a beautiful film!
Rating:
Summary: Not the Usual Keanu Review
Review: I truely enjoyed this film. I personally like Keanu Reeves performance,and I find his acting to be good, I don't really quite understand why every callls him wooden,and talk about how bad of an actor he is, I really think people say that because one person did, and other people didn't want to be seen as a person with "bad taste" in movies. Yes he has done some less serious things, but that just shows his versitillity. I always enjoy his performance in his movies, and this movie just proves to me that he is a good actor, I really don't think anyone else in Hollywood could do any better. This film is viually interesting, all the actor's did a wonderful job, the script was great. This film is a rare jewl in the current world of films.
Rating:
Summary: Seriously awful sentimental blather
Review: I saw this originally in the theatre, but caught it again on late night TV recently. What a disappointment coming from the director, Alphonso Arau, of the sublime classic "Like Water for Chocolate"! "A Walk in the Clouds" is cut from another bolt of cloth completely -- the treacly, sentimental "women's movie" of the 50s -- and utterly lacking charm, intelligence, realistic emotion or even plot coherence. Be warned that this is NOT the delightful magic realism of "Water for Chocolate". There are so many lame, unbelievable details that its almost cruel to mention all of them. Paul (the flat, affectless Keanu Reeves, incapable of expressing anything remotely like romantic love) is a chocolate candy salesman who carries around ONE box of sample candy...in the heat of late summer. Apparently he is unconcerned about it melting in the heat or even about replacing the samples he offers to potential customers. Instead of selling the candy door to door in his native San Francisco, he somehow boards a train for Sacramento (even hotter!) but ends up in ... the Napa Valley. (Please consult a map to see why this is utterly ridiculous.) BTW: Look for Debra Messing (Will and Grace) in a small, thankless role as Paul's unfaithful wife. Victoria (Aitana Gijan) is a Mexican American graduate student who has gotten pregnant by her married college professor, and is inexplicably returning home to Napa, where she will face the anger and scorn of her traditional Mexican family. Anyone who could have written this knows exactly nothing about the period (just after the end of WWII) and is in a kind of denial about the real lifestyles of Mexican American women at that time. I'll bet that there were precious few Mexican Americans (men or women) attending graduate school at Berkley at that time, and if there was, it would remarkable and worth commenting on. Even a basic 4 year college degree was a big deal in the 40s, let alone a master's. (Ms. Gujan, who is very lovely, nonethess is a little too old to be playing a college student.) Additionally, it is more likely that an unwed pregnant girl of that time, with disaproving parents, would have gone to a home for Unwed Mothers and given her child up for adoption. There simply was not the casual acceptance of illegitimate children at that time -- it was a genuine scandal -- and that's easy to forget today when the very word "illegitimate" has practically disappeared from the language. Paul and Victoria decide to pretend to a sham marriage to fool her parents -- for one night! -- and then he'll abandon her, leaving her and the baby to the sympathy of her family. This definitely sounds like a plan that is NOT going to work right from the get-go, as everyone is (no surprise) highly suspicious of the situation. The two have prepared so little that they couldn't fool a bored INS investigator about their "relationship", as they clearly know nothing about one another. Although the story appears to start in summer and warm weather (the characters are wearing summer clothing), six hours after arriving at the family winery, the weather turns cold enough to actually cause the wine grapes to FREEZE. In other words, the temperature dropped from the 70s to below freezing...in September. This isn't really normal for the Napa Valley, which is the chief wine growing region of California precisely because it is so temperate. (BTW: the Aragon family lives in a kind of high-style palazzo that looks more like the ostentacious home of a 90s-era film producer than a real working vineyard.) It is a sad comment on this whole film that the views of the vineyard are misty CGI paintings, rather than real photography...a strange choice when the area being referrenced is known to be one of the most beautiful and photogenic in the world! Anyways, as the grapes are freezing, they put out gigantic smudge pots and all the characters grab giant silken "wings" and run out to the vineyards to perform rather elaborate "dances" to direct the heat to the grapes and prevent freezing. This looks and is perfectly ridiculous. I am also surprised that it works! Apparently so well that every member of the family apparently SLEEPS with such wings at the ready in case of sudden unseasonable frosts. (Victoria runs out to flap wings in her silk nightgown...a nightgown which a couple hours earlier she was too embarassed to allow Paul to glimse her in....how come she isn't shivering in this thin sleeveless garment when the presence of frost clearly indicates that the temperature is below freezing?) The movie is literally one gaff filled moment after another, like those I have mentioned above. The next morning -- after the freeze, which has miraculously lifted and the temperature gone back to the 70s -- it's harvest time! The next day! and a couple of days later...you got it. The entire vineyard burns to the ground...except one tiny blackened root which is, YUP, it's the foundation root brought all the way from Spain hundreds of years ago. Apparently they are going to restart an entire several hundred acre vineyard with ONE ROOT. I know that director Arau is Mexican and probably wanted to reference as much of his beloved homeland in this project as possible. Certainly there is a long history of Mexican Americans in California, so he had lots of choices. But I am fairly certain that the vast majority of vineyards in Napa were ITALIAN in the 1940s. Any of the hispanic actors cast could have convincingly played Italians and the old film this is based on was itself Italian. Making everyone Mexican is no more believable than making them Swedish or Lebanese...it's an affectation and utterly unrealistic. The whole movie has the feeling of a stale, artificial tasting bon bon (not unlike the candies that Paul is half-heartedly trying to sell) -- old, dried out, tasteless, synthetic and generally unpleasant. There is a place for old fashioned romance in movies, but "A Walk in the Clouds" sure is not it.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Movie
Review: I watch this movie the other night with my girlfriend, who is visiting from Mexico. We just really enjoyed it and she laughed when the word "gringo" was used. She said it would be used when someone is either joking or being rude. Anyway, really terrific cast and the photography (I think some are paintings and special effects) are simply outstanding. Totally acceptable family viewing with wonderful values etc. Really recommend this for purchase.
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