A Walk in the Clouds
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| A Walk in the Clouds | |
|---|---|
 Original poster |
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| Directed by | Alfonso Arau |
| Produced by | Gil Netter David Zucker Jerry Zucker |
| Written by | Robert Mark Kamen Mark Miller Harvey Weitzman |
| Starring | Keanu Reeves Aitana Sánchez-Gijón >Giancarlo Giannini Anthony Quinn |
| Music by | Maurice Jarre |
| Cinematography | Emmanuel Lubezki |
| Editing by | Don Zimmerman |
| Distributed by | Twentieth Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | May 27, 1995  August 11, 1995  |
| Running time | 102 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $20,000,000 (estimated) |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
A Walk in the Clouds is a 1995 American romantic drama film directed by Alfonso Arau. The screenplay by Robert Mark Kamen, Mark Miller, and Harvey Weitzman is based on the 1942 Italian film Quattro Passi Fra Le Nuvole by Piero Tellini, Cesare Zavattini, and Vittorio de Benedetti.
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[edit] Plot synopsis
Shortly after the surrender of Japan, marking the end of World War II, United States Army Sgt. Paul Sutton returns to San Francisco to reunite with his wife Betty, whom he married - following a whirlwind courtship - the day before he departed for the Pacific. The war has left him with emotional scars, and he experiences flashbacks on a regular basis.
Paul's reunion with Betty is strained, especially after he discovers most of the letters he wrote her were set aside unopened. He is determined to make a go of the marriage however, and hopes to establish a new career for himself. Betty insists he continue to sell candy door-to-door, and he sets off to Sacramento. Enroute he meets Victoria Aragon, a Stanford University graduate student whose Mexican-American family owns a vineyard in the Napa Valley. When he learns the unmarried woman is pregnant by her professor, Paul offers to introduce himself to her very traditionalist family as her husband.
Victoria's father is infuriated, not only that she married a man below her social standing, but without his permission as well. Paul's initial plan to quietly slip away and continue on his journey, leaving Victora's family to believe he abandoned her, is derailed when her grandfather Don Pedro encourages him to stay and help with the harvest. Paul and Victoria try to ignore their growing attraction for each other. His desire to salvage his marriage prompts him to return home, where he discovers his wife is involved with another man. She has applied for an annulment, to which he readily agrees, and he returns to the Aragon estate to ask Victoria to marry him. An argument with her father leads to a disaster, but the family is certain it will recover from its loss with the help of its newest member.
[edit] Pricipal cast
- Keanu Reeves ..... Sgt. Paul Sutton
- Aitana Sánchez-Gijón ..... Victoria Aragon
- Giancarlo Giannini ..... Alberto Aragon
- Anthony Quinn ..... Don Pedro Aragon
- Angélica Aragón ..... Maria Jose Aragon
- Freddy Rodriguez ..... Pedro Aragon
- Debra Messing ..... Betty Sutton
[edit] Critical reception
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times called the film "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 ... At a time when movies seem obligated to be cynical, when it is easier to snicker than to sigh, what a relief this film is!" [1]
Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle said, "A couple of turns of plot - including the histrionic ending - seem less magical than overwrought, but A Walk in the Clouds is for the most part a beautiful, well-acted and emotionally rich picture ... In this very warm-hearted film, Reeves' face is the movie's locus of kindness and decency - and he stands up to scrutiny. There's not just sweetness there but depth." [2]
Hal Hinson of the Washington Post called it "a phenomenally atrocious movie — so bad, in fact, that you might actually manage to squeeze a few laughs out of it ... The film has the syrupy, Kodak magic-moment look of a Bo Derek movie, and pretty much the same level of substance." [3]
Variety described the film as "a glossy, fairy-tale romance that's longer on wishfulness than believability" and "a modest but sharply mounted comedy/melodrama." [4]
[edit] Awards and nominations
Maurice Jarre won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score. Keanu Reeves was nominated for the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor.
