A Thousand Clouds of Peace *** (2003, Juan Carlos Ortuno, Juan Torres, Perla de la Rosa, Salvador Alvarez) – Classic Movie Review 12,990

Julián Hernández’s starkly poetic neorealist 2003 Mexican romantic drama film A Thousand Clouds of Peace showcases his dazzling style and imagination. Juan Carlos Ortuño stars as Gerardo who searches for love, but seems totally lost. 

‘In the search for love, you can find yourself.’

Writer/ director Julián Hernández’s starkly poetic neorealist 2003 Mexican romantic drama film A Thousand Clouds of Peace showcases his dazzling style and imagination.

Diego Arizmendi’s extraordinary, gleaming film noir-style black and white cinematography leads the way to success for this Mexican minor work of art, minor but real. The cinematography could hardly be more imaginative and brilliant if it tried, and boy does it try. The minimalist film seems inspired by films of the late Fifties/ early Sixties, recalling Bresson and early Pasolini, and quite favourably too.

Juan Carlos Ortuño stars as 17-year-old Gerardo who has just discovered his relationship with Bruno (Juan Torres) is finished, and starts wandering despondently and hopelessly through the streets of Mexico City, tormented by what he is seeing. Men constantly remind him of his old lover and he seeks to try to keep what’s left of that love, pathetically comforted by a letter Bruno has left with his boss for him.

We’re going to see quite a lot of Juan Carlos Ortuño, Trying to keep what’s left of his love and to ease his pain, Gerardo has a number of casual sexual encounters in the city. He has a lot more clouds than peace, of course, otherwise we’d hardly have a film, If it feels like a love letter to Ortuño, exploring his every nook and cranny, then, why not?

It is dialogue light, especially for Gerardo, but there’s quite an outpouring of pseudo poetry from an old pop record and homespun philosophy from various characters. The dialogue is not the point. You could safely turn the sound off, or if you’re an English speaker not bother with the subtitles, and watch it as a visual fest and an image-prompted emotional ride. Julián Hernández sure is a romantic, more an old romantic than a new romantic.

The dialogue is not the point either. Basically, there isn’t one. The running time is 83 minutes, and it runs very slowly, mesmerically at its own pace, making the 83 minutes seem as long as the 140 minutes of Hernández’s later 2006 Broken Sky. You could see A Thousand Clouds of Peace as a dress rehearsal for Broken Sky, which develops similar themes and techniques more maturely and even more confidently.

It won the Teddy Award for Best Feature Film at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2003 and the award for Best First Work at the Lima Latin American Film Festival. It won the Silver Ariel at the Ariel Awards in Mexico in 2004.

Its original Spanish title is Mil nubes de paz cercan el cielo, amor, jamás acabarás de ser amor. Alternative English titles are A Thousand Clouds of Peace Fence the Sky, Love; Your Being Love Will Never End; and A Thousand Peace Clouds Encircle the Sky.

The cast are Juan Carlos Ortuño as Gerardo, Juan Torres as Bruno, Perla de la Rosa as Anna, Salvador Alvarez as Susana, Rosa-Maria Gomez as Mary, Mario Oliver as Umberto, Clarisa Rendón as Nadia, Salvador Hernandez as Antonio, Pablo Molina as Andres, Martha Gomez as Martha, Manuel Grapain Zaquelarez as Jorge, Miguel Loaiza as Adrian Llane Fragoso as Mirella, and Pilar Ruiz as Lola.

Julián Hernández (born 1972 in Mexico City) twice won the Teddy Award for Best LGBT Feature Film at the Berlin Film Festival with A Thousand Clouds of Peace (2003) and for Raging Sun, Raging Sky (2009).

Hernández’s highly impressive, emotional and moving 2006 Mexican romantic drama film Broken Sky [El cielo dividido] tells the story of a love triangle between three young gay men. He also more recently made The Trace of Your Lips (2023).

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 12,990

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