Search - Beyond the Clouds on DVD

Visual Glory, Boring Stories.

Maximiliano F Yofre | Buenos Aires, Argentina | 03/03/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Director Michelangelo Antonioni has authored many outstanding films as "Blowup" (1966) and "Zabriskie Point" (1970) or more controversial ones as "The Night" (1961) and "Eclipse" (1962). All of them are refined aesthetical "oeuvres d'art" and at the same time they delivered some "message".
Director Wim Wenders has produced also some interesting film pieces as "Paris, Texas" (1984) and "Wings of Desire" Aka "The Sky over Berlin" (1987).

From the combined efforts of both of them I was expecting a "major". Unfortunately is not the case here.
The movie tries to depict the "creation process" of a film director. It presents four short stories of male-female encounters. Possibly they occur in the Directors imagination and are triggered by surrounding environment. They are unrelated among them and, at least to my perception, they do not have any strong coherence.

The sights are great: misty roads in amazing Italian towns; shops bordering a gorgeous lake; seaside views; light and shadows combined in exquisite photogram. Almost every bit of the film may be considered a visual joy.

For males delight nude scenes of Sophie Marceau, Ines Sastre and Chiara Caselli are shown gracefully. Alas for the ladies, only John Malkovitch "derriere" is shown.

Original music score by Bono and Adam Clayton as U2 is also very good.

It is a film that brings to memory more successful examples of "intellectual `60es" filmography, without reaching their deepness.
Reviewed by Max Yofre."

The most beautiful women ever to appear in a single film

R. Mayo | Fort Collins, CO United States | 06/23/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"If you speak French or can put up with sub-titles, you will really enjoy this movie. If on the other hand you just want to see God's most beautiful creatures, this is a must see. Not an ounce of silicon in sight. Zalman King eat your heart out. Sophie Marceau's body is the epitome of perfection and everything I had ever fantasized about. Her part is even in English. Even the fact that she was nude with John Malkovich did not detract for her beauty. Sophie is a ten if ever there was one. Chiara Caselli and Inés Sastre are 9.5s. Oh yeah, it is a pretty good story. Several little vignettes are woven together in a sort of Six Degrees of Separation style."

An Extreme Film: Lovelorn, Dispair, and Humanity

Tao Liu | Seattle, WA USA | 01/27/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Wow. I have never witnessed a movie so beautiful and haunting. It really feels like you are there, in the city, witnessing the lives of these amazingly human characters. The huge buildings really are like old "bones growing out from under the fog," and inside this vast timeless landscape are the humans' who's hopes are infinite yet must face the harsh limits of their own flaws and weaknesses. These beautiful love stories evoked a strange and transcendeding feeling from my heart. I can't really put words on it. They were real, surreal, and eternal. There is a indescribable and unseen dimension to everything in this film: the lives of those living inside the great buildings, the enigmatic little streets covered with fog and rain.

Watch this movie alone and with the lights off. I promise you will experience something hauntingly beautiful that will stay with you for a lifetime."

Average Antonioni...

Grigory's Girl | NYC | 04/28/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This film was Antonioni's first after a long hiatus from filmmaking. There are interlinking segments with John Malkovich as a film director that were directed by Wim Wenders, but overall, it's an Antonioni film. While there are some great shots and camerawork, it just felt empty. It's like one reviewer said: it was "Antonioni doing Antonioni". I kept looking for something profound and worthwhile, like in Michelangelo's masterpieces from L'avventura to Blow-Up (and The Passenger), but usually came away empty. Aside from one story with a woman who reveals to her lover that she's about to become a nun, none of the stories generate much interest, and Wenders's segments are incredibly pretentious, with ponderous, condescending narration. The film is worth checking out if you dig Antonioni (Marcello Mastrioanni's segment is quite good), but overall, it's a rather staid exercise with some thoughtful, Antonioniesque moments."