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A Thousand Clouds of Peace
A Thousand Clouds of Peace
Actors: Juan Carlos Ortuño, Juan Carlos Torres, Salvador Alvarez, Gloria Andrade, Llane Fragoso
Director: Julián Hernández
Genres: Indie & Art House, Drama, Gay & Lesbian
UR     2004     1hr 20min

Gerardo, a gay teenager, roams the streets of Mexico City in search of someone able to reveal the secret hidden between the lines of a goodbye letter from his ex-lover

     
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Movie Details

Actors: Juan Carlos Ortuño, Juan Carlos Torres, Salvador Alvarez, Gloria Andrade, Llane Fragoso
Director: Julián Hernández
Creators: Julián Hernández, Armando Narváez, Christian Valdelièvre, Enrique Ortiga, Gabriel Negrete, Matthias Ehrenberg, Roberto Fiesco
Genres: Indie & Art House, Drama, Gay & Lesbian
Sub-Genres: Indie & Art House, Love & Romance, Gay & Lesbian
Studio: Strand Releasing
Format: DVD - Color,Widescreen - Closed-captioned,Subtitled
DVD Release Date: 09/28/2004
Release Year: 2004
Run Time: 1hr 20min
Screens: Color,Widescreen
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaDVD Credits: 1
Total Copies: 0
Members Wishing: 0
MPAA Rating: Unrated
Languages: Spanish
Subtitles: English

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Movie Reviews

A thousand peaceful naps
Bil Antoniou | Agincourt, Ontario Canada | 09/13/2004
(2 out of 5 stars)

"Gerardo, a high school dropout, wanders around Mexico City mooning over his ex-lover Bruno, the one happiness he seems to have ever had in life until Bruno abandoned him. Having run away from home and without a steady job, Gerardo goes in search of his lost love and instead finds casual sex encounters and a random love letter sifted from the trash that he decides was written for him by his ex-boyfriend. He then sees old school friends, visits his mother, masturbates a few times, and even gets beat up by a tough cholo he thought was an appropriate sex partner, all with very little dialogue and much meandering in between. Shot in high-contrast black and white, the film is slow and sometimes quite pretentious, focusing on long, silent takes that allow you to soak in a melancholy atmosphere that isn't quite rich enough to justify the pacing. A more appropriate title would have been A Thousand Hours Of Peace. It's nice to see people paying tribute to the likes of Antonioni, but you should make sure you have the story and characters to back it up before you commit to the stylistic choices involved. It isn't a terrible movie, just not a particularly interesting one: it's the cinematic equivalent of reading metaphysical poetry, which is admirably arty and very intellectual, but why the hell would I want to sit around and read poetry? Even the most devoted art film lovers will have their patience challenged by this one."
The Anguish of Lost Love
Grady Harp | Los Angeles, CA United States | 06/09/2006
(3 out of 5 stars)

"'Mil nubes de paz cercan el cielo, amor, jamas acabaras de ser amor', the Spanish title (extracted from a poem by Pasolini) of this little film from Mexico, is translated for the English language audience as 'A Thousand Clouds of Peace'. Writer/director Julian Hernandez seems to emulate Pasolini's films but has yet to reach the subtle artistry of the Italian master's genre. The film is shot in black and white, uses very little dialogue, and stresses the use of the camera (often at odds with the flow of the storyline) in presenting what appears to be a reflection on the pain of losing love.

Gerardo (Juan Carlos Ortuno) is a 17-year old lad who has apparently just been jilted by his lover Bruno (Juan Carlos Torres) who ended the only affair of Gerardo's life with a letter that plunges Gerardo into despair. Gerardo walks the streets of Mexico City, looking for signs of his lost love, pining away on a bridge, pausing to find the soundtrack recording of an old shared film, attempting unsuccessfully to kindle romance with the occasional hustler and at times meeting with physical abuse. When he is not wandering in his sadness he stays in his room yearning for what is lost and confining his needs to his solo physical dreams. He encounters old friends, both male and female, but there is no real antidote for the loss he is experiencing. And like so many tragic love stories, this one has no happy ending.

Hernandez gives evidence of a potentially potent filmmaker: certainly his subject matter and his frankness of showing frontal nudity and some frankness of contact demonstrate that he is a brave writer and director. Juan Carlos Ortuna is an inexperienced actor, but with Hernandez' guidance he manages to make us feel his plight, trust his genuine grief, and in general make us hope he finds resolution. And to accomplish that with almost no dialogue, relying only on facial and physical shots, shows promise. In Spanish with English subtitles. Grady Harp, June 06"