A Walk in the Clouds |  | Director: Alfonso Arau
Actors: Keanu Reeves, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Anthony Quinn, Giancarlo Giannini, Angélica Aragón
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy New: $5.95
as of 2/9/2010 18:09 EST details
You Save: $9.03 (60%)
New (35) Used (18) Collectible (1) from $3.49
Seller: media-savvy
Rating:  154 reviews
Sales Rank: 2870
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 102 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.1 x 0.6
MPN: D2005760D
UPC: 024543057604
EAN: 0024543057604
ASIN: B00006ZXSI
Theatrical Release Date: August 11, 1995
Release Date: January 14, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
| |
| Similar Items:
| |
| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Keanu Reeves is completely wooden in this romantic misfire by Alfonso Arau (Like Water for Chocolate). Reeves plays a World War II vet who hits the road as a traveling salesman and agrees to help a desperate, pregnant woman (Aitana Sanchez-Gijon)--who is afraid to let her father (Giancarlo Giannini) see her condition--by pretending to be her husband. Most of the story takes place in the old man's vineyard, and Arau makes a life of swollen fruit, grape-stomping, sunlight, and tan flesh that looks amazingly erotic. But there are plenty of sillier distractions, such as the sight of farm hands chasing insects with flapping gossamer wings attached to their arms. Reeves is terribly self-conscious, while stalwart Anthony Quinn is memorable as the damsel's benevolent grandfather. --Tom Keogh
Product Description
Movie DVD
|
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 154
all is well February 1, 2010
Laura Corrales (UT)
I bought 2 of the movie a walk in the clouds and both were in good condition. I was especially pleased with 1 of them more than the other due to the condition of the case. Interestinly enough, they were slightly different covers as well. The movies arrived in a timely manner and were well packaged to ensure safe arrival of product through the mail. Overall no complaints here.
 Romantic comedy February 1, 2010
Lynn Deluca (Akron, Ohio)
The story of a man, Paul, just home from the war. He finds out his wife's not interested enough to read the letters he sent almost daily, and that she's seeing other men behind his back. He takes off, supposedly to find a job, and meets Maria, a young co-ed working on her master's degree. She tells him she's pregnant by her professor and going home without a husband. Paul suggests that he be her husband for a day to ease her back into the household, and then he'd take off to finish his trip. Her family has other ideas. And these you have to see for yourself. There are many comedic spots, a lot of romance, sexual inuendo, but no out-right nudity. We do see Paul's chest once or twice. I don't mind watching this one with my kids in the room. The scenery is fabulous. Napa Valley, California. Grape vineyards from one end of the screen to the other. A walk in the clouds is a movie worth watching.
I loved this movie!! December 29, 2009
Patricia. Carey (Chicago, IL, USA)
I'm glad that Hollywood finally portrayed a Hispanic family as proud and aristocratic, and not as drug dealers and gang bangers.
An Ultimate Love Story, with all the trimmings December 14, 2009
K. A. Ekvall (Iowa, USA)
If you want a well rounded, thoughtful and poignant tale about Fate and Love, change and hope, A Walk in the Clouds is the perfect, pitter-patter, sigh and smile tale. An ultimate classic and favorite! And after all these years, it still rings true and earnest as it ever did.
Paul Sudden has just returned from 4 years of war. As an orphan who has never known what a true family is about, he clung to the hasty marriage with a women who is a mere stranger (Debra Messing, well acted, though not in the film much but is very effective as the forget-me-not instant wife, who's indifference to Paul propels his realization about taking risks). When pressured to resume an old life he no longer finds appealing, he comes across Victoria, the daughter of a wealthy vineyard owner, Alberto Aragon, who is more than just rough and tough. As Paul learns the state in which Victoria has placed herself, he entangles himself in a family and a Fate that is not of his choosing, though Some Thing--some enigmatic pull seems to draw him in, ensnaring him into an uncertain and unpredictable future--is completely undeniable. Posing as her husband, in order to deflect and protect Victoria from her overly zealous and traditional father, he capitulates to the all too-knowing caprices of the rest of the family, only to find himself falling in love with not only Victoria, but her family. For once, Paul knows what it means to feel, to be loved, to have roots and a future. As he's making his way out of the gorgeous Napa Valley, he is beginning to understand what he is leaving behind: the fruitful possibilities that is as ripe as the vineyard Victoria grew up in. And makes the ultimate decision...
I never get tired of watching of this movie, even without any features. Directed by Alfonso Arau, with incredible scenery, a stellar cast--pitch perfect with a chemistry between the actors that makes you believe in fairy tales--and a wonderful, subtle score, it's pure perfection. Romance, love, drama and angst don't come in a more lively and painstaking style that is both heartbreaking and uplifting.
Anthony Quinn as the clever patriarch of the Aragon clan is a wonderful exegesis to what goes on between Paul and Victoria and the issues of the family. Giancarlo Giannini as Alberto Aragon adds trauma and richness to a tale that could have become just a typical and bland story line. The chemistry between Reeves (whose range isn't that wide or intense, though here, PERFECT) and Aitana Sánchez-Gijón is magnetic, passionate and engaging. No wonder it won a Golden Globe.
So have that glass a wine, or some chocolate, get comfy and enjoy a tale filled with daring, courage and passion. And, of course, Love.
How do you see this movie? As sour grapes or vintage wine? October 27, 2009
H. Bala (Carson - hey, we have an IKEA store! - CA USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Others deplore this movie as overly sappy and manipulative. I tend to be more charitable. After all, every movie tries its best to pull the strings of its audience, and the issue then is the subtlety at which they go about it. And, yeah, to be frank, A WALK IN THE CLOUDS comes about as subtle as Keanu Reeves' acting. And, yet, that didn't matter to me. I found myself responding to the sweeping romance, the lush cinematography, the rousing score, and the beautiful yearning couple. A WALK IN THE CLOUDS is my fourth favorite Keanu Reeves movie, after The Matrix, Speed (Widescreen Edition), and Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. And it's never dropped the ball as an effective date flick.
It's set during the World War II era, so right away you're planted in a place and a time in flux, when sentiment was embraced fully, when life was lived at its fullest, and desperate love stories resonated like mad. After his stint in the military, young war veteran Paul Sutton (Reeves) readjusts to civilian life. Occasionally suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, Paul says goodbye to a wife he's hardly seen and sets off on his humble new job as a traveling salesman of chocolate bon bons. Journeying from Frisco to Sacramento, Paul meets Victoria Aragon, a distressed beautiful girl on her way home from college, and finally the story gets going.
Paul Sutton is one of those guys you can count on. He learns that Victoria is in trouble. She is expecting, but has been abandoned by the baby's father, some weasel of a guy. And, now on her way home, she is ashamed and dreads her proud father's displeasure. Now here's the key premise: To save her honor, Paul offers to temporarily pose as Victoria's husband, and she accepts. And, just to emphasize that this is a fable as much as a sumptuous love story, Victoria and Paul are soon gazing down into an idyllic valley kissed lovingly by the sun and with just that hint of mist at the edges (a soul-filling vision you don't much get in real life). Victoria's wealthy family owns and runs a vineyard in Napa, and this valley seems so bountiful and blessed that I have no doubt grapes willingly go there to die.
The movie hearkens to those old-time cinematic love stories, and if you buy into it, then you'll have a blast gnashing your teeth as obstacles surface for the star-crossed lovers only for those obstacles to be knocked down, and then only to have further obstacles pop up. The main thorn is Victoria's blustery, suffocating father Alberto Aragon (a very good Giancarlo Giannini). Alberto is highly offended that a) his daughter shows up married without warning and b) that she married a gringo, and a gringo whose vocation is selling candy. Another pretty big deterrent is that Paul is still married, so, really, how far can things go with Victoria? Female viewers have sighed at this unbearable impasse (I know, I've already had to watch this flick a bunch of times with chicks). I did say this was an effective date movie, didn't I?
You soak in the story's earthiness and sensuality, and while this isn't quite in the realm of magical realism, there's an echo of that going on. Director Alfonso Arau, who earlier had made the wonderful Like Water for Chocolate, urges you to lose yourself in the doings onscreen, the images are this evocative. Alfonso Arau even takes an old cornball scene and makes it one of the film's best moments. It's when that old romantic soul, Don Pedro (Anthony Quinn, terrific), coaxes Paul into serenading Victoria underneath her window as she lay sleeping. Paul is drunk but willing and this leads to one of the many grace notes of the film - grace notes, providing that you allow yourself to let go. There's also the grape stomping ritual, which, as performed by Aitana Sanchez-Gijon, somehow turns out a lot sexier than when Lucille Ball did it. But, okay, the scene where everyone heats up the frost-bitten grapes with butterfly wings? That might've been too much.
I'm sort of torn between admiring Keanu's simplicity of acting and making fun of his robot-like line delivery. To label Reeves' performance as one-dimensional is to spot him one dimension too many. I get the feeling that, to Keanu, being nuanced means that he should hold off on saying "whoa" in a movie. On the other hand, there's a certain level of comfort with that same simplicity of acting. In keeping with its place and period, there's no room for clever cynicism or pop culture snark. That would destroy the old-fashioned romantic mood the film is trying to invoke. A love story like this resorts to old school sensibilities, and that includes requiring the leading man to be a stand-up guy, to be, to use a couple of outdated words, "gallant" and "honorable." Reeves solidly demonstrates these attributes. Plus, he and Aitana Sanchez-Gijon sizzle in their scenes together.
Discounting Keanu, the story is marked with several outstanding performances. Giancarlo Giannini is pretty great as the acerbic, domineering Alberto Aragon, Victoria's dad. Old-timer Anthony Quinn steals every scene with his wise and generous-hearted patriarch, Don Pedro Aragon. But, since I'm a guy, Aitana Sanchez-Gijon, in a rare venture into American pictures, ends up making the most impact. The girl is luminous, and it's a bad blow that she hasn't done much in American cinema before and since. She certainly made a fan out of me. More than anything else, Aitana Sanchez-Gijon is the reason I buy into this sappy movie.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 154
|
|
|
