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| A Walk in the Clouds | 
 enlarge | Director: Alfonso Arau
Actors: Keanu Reeves, Aitana Sanchez-gijon, Anthony Quinn, Giancarlo Giannini, Angelica Aragon
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Category: DVD
Buy New: $18.99
New (3) Used (6) from $1.61
Avg. Customer Rating:  140 reviews
Sales Rank: 46548
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 102
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
UPC: 024543008019
EAN: 0024543008019
ASIN: B000053VC5
Theatrical Release Date: August 11, 1995
Release Date: January 9, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Did the Amazon reviewer actually watch the movie?? July 1, 2008
Yes, I agree that this isn't Keenu Reeves best performance. However, the Amazon reviewer's comment about the "silly insect chasing scene with gossamer wings" was just WRONG. What the scene is about is preventing the grapes from freezing by lighting braziers through the vineyard then spreading the heat. And I've seen this done in Germany, France, and Spain, so it is real.
I thought the interactions between the father, the grandfather and the daughter were amazingly done and the woman who plays the mother was superb!
Fine movie, not so good acting June 21, 2008
Great scenery in the movie. The acting is not great, but the story flows, so you end up rooting for love and happiness after all.
 Formulaic romance starring...Napa Valley May 25, 2008
Alfonso Arau (Like Water For Chocolate)'s WWII romance A Walk in the Clouds, based on the 1942 Italian film Quattro passi fra le nuvole, explores the intertwined notions of destiny and true love amidst a sprawling vineyard. Paul Sutton (Keanu Reeves) returns home from the front to discover that the woman he married shortly before shipping out (a cameo by Debra Messing from Will & Grace - Season One) isn't the woman he wants to spend his life with; she couldn't handle the realities of war, so she saved his heartfelt letters without reading them.
Before the war, he was a chocolate salesman, but he is dissatisfied with civilian life and suffers from PTSD. Aboard a train, he meets Victoria (Aitana Sanchez-Gijon), a beautiful woman traveling alone. She was pursuing her master's degree in literature, but became pregnant. Victoria has nowhere to go but home to her domineering father Alberto and his winery, and Paul offers to be her "husband" to make her pregnancy appear legitimate to her family. Once at the vineyard, Paul is convinced by Don Pedro (Anthony Quinn, apparently reprising his role in Zorba the Greek) to stay and help with the yearly harvest. Paul gradually becomes accepted by Victoria's very traditional Mexican family, and pitches in to help with the backbreaking labor involved in maintaining the vineyard.
Perhaps the greatest tragedy is the waste of what could have been: the romance is strictly by-the-numbers, and Keanu's painfully wooden delivery (he redefines the word "monotone") does little to soften already formulaic dialogue. Painful drunken serenades featuring Reeves and Quinn, an absurdly shot "flap like a butterfly" sequence, and hokey harvest montages featuring a choir chanting "crush the grapes" do little to cleanse the palette. However, the gorgeous twilight shots of Napa Valley (filmed on location at various wineries including Beringer, Duckhorn, Haywood, Mount Vedeer, and Mayacamus) are pure sun-drenched bliss. It's a shame that the script doesn't hold up as well. As with many modern remakes of foreign films such as the recent No Reservations based on Mostly Martha, the producers would have done well to study the source material more closely; the charm and wit that made these films classics in their original languages are lost in translation trying to produce a product geared towards American audiences. A Walk in the Clouds lacks the sensuality and mysticism of Arau's captivating Mexican fable Like Water for Chocolate, or even the American Chocolat (Miramax Collector's Series). If you enjoyed Like Water for Chocolate, then you will likely find some redeeming qualities in A Walk in the Clouds, but for everyone else, I'd recommend a different vintage.
 Beautiful transfer to DVD May 1, 2008
These comments pertain to the picture and sound quality of the 2003 DVD release of "A Walk in the Clouds". The transfer to DVD is quite good--the colors are vibrant and accurate and the picture is as sharp as its theatrical release (the movie is something like a dream--it never really looked "sharp" like a science fiction thriller would be expected to look--it has a softness about it--this is exactly how it looks on DVD--great job!). Also, it is widescreen anamorphic, so it fills the entire screen of my 46-inch high definition Samsung TV. I played this movie on a Toshiba 1080p HD DVD player and it was quite impressive--just like being at the theatre to see this movie for the first time.
Wife's Movie April 28, 2008
This is my wife's favorite movie and it was recently lost. Buying this movie was a wonderful Birthday gift. The product arrived on time as promised.
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