In terms of what "A Walk in the Clouds" does right and wrong, it's like "Memoirs of a Geisha," a dissimilar romance that came out a decade later. The acting is great. The cinematography is breathtaking. The film works with pure magic. But there's a big problem: the screenplay is terrible.
Paul Sutton (Keanu Reeves) is a war hero returning from the Pacific to be reunited with a girl he married "just so I could have someone to write to" (Debra Messing). Realizing that he's entered into a nightmare, he resumes his job as a chocolate salesman. On a bus to Sacremento for his job, he meets Victoria Aragon (Aitana Sanchez-Guijon), a Mexican beauty who is pregnant and unmarried. This would be troubling for anyone, but Victoria's father, Alberto (Giancarlo Giannini) is so traditional he makes Jerry Falwell look positively liberal. Because Paul is such a nice guy, he agrees to pose as her husband for a day, then leave her, which would hopefully solve the problem. Of course, they fall in love, which makes the situation even more complicated.
The acting is solid. Many people give Keanu Reeves a hard time about his performances, and that's a little unfair. True, he's no Sean Penn, and I doubt that anyone will mention his name and "Oscar" in the same sentence any time soon, but given the right role, he can be effective. This was true of "Speed," "The Matrix," and "The Devil's Advocate," which I consider his best performance. "A Walk in the Clouds" should be among that list. It's easily the weakest of the three, but his performance is not. Paul is so immensely likable that it would turn the movie into a case of sugar shock, except that Reeves keeps Paul so genuine that it is impossible to not like him. His co-star, Aitana Sanchez-Guijon, is solid, although their chemistry is more of the "great friends" variety, not "star-crossed lovers." The other main actors, Giancarlo Giannini and Anthony Quinn, are excellent. Giannini is Oscar-worthy as Alberto. He's rigidly traditional, but it's his love of his family that makes him so. Ironically, however, it makes him blind to the needs of others. His father, Don Pedro (Quinn), is like the rest of his family: wise and more open. He always on hand to give advice on love and marriage to the would-be husband. He is also present in a hilarious scene where he gets Paul (and himself) very drunk and has him sing a traditional Mexican courting song outside Victoria's window.
Alfonso Arau made the art-house hit, "Like Water for Chocolate," a film that I haven't seen, but is in my Netflix queue (and has been for some time). The middle part is magic, and it's Arau's talent that speaks to that. Unfortunately, the beginning is clunky, and the ending is completely over-the-top. Not all of this can be blamed on Arau, however. It's his first mainstream American film, so he was probably forced to make some concessions at the behest of the producers. However, even they should have realized that some of the lines needed to be rewritten.
Overall, it works, but not as well as you'd hope.
Paul Sutton (Keanu Reeves) is a war hero returning from the Pacific to be reunited with a girl he married "just so I could have someone to write to" (Debra Messing). Realizing that he's entered into a nightmare, he resumes his job as a chocolate salesman. On a bus to Sacremento for his job, he meets Victoria Aragon (Aitana Sanchez-Guijon), a Mexican beauty who is pregnant and unmarried. This would be troubling for anyone, but Victoria's father, Alberto (Giancarlo Giannini) is so traditional he makes Jerry Falwell look positively liberal. Because Paul is such a nice guy, he agrees to pose as her husband for a day, then leave her, which would hopefully solve the problem. Of course, they fall in love, which makes the situation even more complicated.
The acting is solid. Many people give Keanu Reeves a hard time about his performances, and that's a little unfair. True, he's no Sean Penn, and I doubt that anyone will mention his name and "Oscar" in the same sentence any time soon, but given the right role, he can be effective. This was true of "Speed," "The Matrix," and "The Devil's Advocate," which I consider his best performance. "A Walk in the Clouds" should be among that list. It's easily the weakest of the three, but his performance is not. Paul is so immensely likable that it would turn the movie into a case of sugar shock, except that Reeves keeps Paul so genuine that it is impossible to not like him. His co-star, Aitana Sanchez-Guijon, is solid, although their chemistry is more of the "great friends" variety, not "star-crossed lovers." The other main actors, Giancarlo Giannini and Anthony Quinn, are excellent. Giannini is Oscar-worthy as Alberto. He's rigidly traditional, but it's his love of his family that makes him so. Ironically, however, it makes him blind to the needs of others. His father, Don Pedro (Quinn), is like the rest of his family: wise and more open. He always on hand to give advice on love and marriage to the would-be husband. He is also present in a hilarious scene where he gets Paul (and himself) very drunk and has him sing a traditional Mexican courting song outside Victoria's window.
Alfonso Arau made the art-house hit, "Like Water for Chocolate," a film that I haven't seen, but is in my Netflix queue (and has been for some time). The middle part is magic, and it's Arau's talent that speaks to that. Unfortunately, the beginning is clunky, and the ending is completely over-the-top. Not all of this can be blamed on Arau, however. It's his first mainstream American film, so he was probably forced to make some concessions at the behest of the producers. However, even they should have realized that some of the lines needed to be rewritten.
Overall, it works, but not as well as you'd hope.