(SPECIAL NOTE: Capsule version of the review is available here.)
Italian film makers probably had better memories of Fascism than most of their countrymen. Even in those dark years there was room for some artistic creativity and the result was Four Steps in the Clouds, 1942 drama that would pave the way for Neorealism and other future triumphs of Italian cinema. This classic was remade many times, finally by Hollywood in 1995. The task of directing film, titled A Walk in the Clouds, was given to Alfons Arau, Mexican actor, only a year after his triumphal directorial debut with Like Water for Chocolate.
The plot begins in San Francisco immediately after the end of WW2. Paul Sutton (played by Keanu Reeves) is young war hero who returns to Betty (played by Debra Messing), the wife he hardly knows. In order to clear his head he takes the job of travelling salesman and one day, in Napa Valley, he meets Victoria Aragon (played by Aitana Sanchez-Gijon), young woman who had found herself in precarious position. She was made pregnant by her college professor and now must break that news to her aristocratic and ultra-conservative Mexican family during the annual wine harvest. Paul decides to help by accompanying her and pretending to be her husband. He is supposed to stay a couple of days, but this is too much for Victoria's suspicious, overprotective father Alberto (played by Giancarlo Giannini) who can't stand the Gringo son-in-law. Victoria's grandfather Don Pedro (played by Anthony Quinn), on the other hand, not only likes Paul but senses that the real bond exists between him and his granddaughter. But the idyll is short, because Paul must return to his real wife.
Few films depend on individual viewer's mood as much as A Walk in the Clouds does. If you happen to watch this film while you are feeling good, you won't fail to appreciate surreally beautiful landscapes of Northern California, captured by Emmanuel Lubezki's excellent photography and even enhanced by few special effects. Nor you would be unmoved by beautiful Maurice Jarre's score. Even the wooden performance of Keanu Reeves would feel right for the role - as a perfect display of Greatest Generation's confusion and lost innocence. But if you happen to watch this film while things in real life don't go your way, you would probably be revolted by the amounts of saccharine in the script, by the abundant cliches, by utter predictability of the plot and by certain characters who look like they have their purpose tattooed on their forehead (the one played by Debra Messing being the most obvious example). Truth to be told, a lot of effort has been invested in A Walk in the Clouds, but at the end virtues and flaws cancel each other and this film could be recommended as nothing more than one of the more tolerable examples of Hollywood's mediocrity. RATING: 5/10 (++)
(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on January 28th 2003)
==
Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/
Brave browser: https://brave.com/dra011
BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7
