| | |  | MEXICO | Home » » A Thousand Clouds of Peace | | | | | | | Description: | | A teenager discovers that mending a broken heart is no simple thing in this independent romantic drama from Mexico. Gerardo (Juan Carlos Ortuno), a 17-year-old who has recently embraced his homosexuality, has just parted ways with his first serious boyfriend, Bruno (Juan Carlos Torres). Gerardo has fallen into a deep depression after losing Bruno, and he drifts through Mexico City, where he meets and makes love with a number of attractive strangers. However, his hedonistic adventures cannot wash away the pain in his heart. The first feature-length project from director Julian Hernandez, Mil Nubes de Paz Cercan el Cielo, Amor, Jam s Acabar s de Ser Amor was screened at the 2003 Berlin Film Festival, where it received the Teddy award, given to the best Gay or Lesbian-themed film shown at the fest. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi | | | Product Details: | | | Actors:
| Juan Carlos Ortuño, Juan Carlos Torres, Salvador Alvarez, Gloria Andrade, Llane Fragoso | | Director:
| Julián Hernández | | Format:
| Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC | | Language:
| Spanish | | Subtitle:
| English | | Number of Discs:
| 1 | | Studio:
| Strand Releasing | | Run Time:
| 80 minutes | | DVD Release Date:
| September 28, 2004 | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 4 reviews |
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2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
The Anguish of Lost LoveJun 09, 2006
By Grady Harp
'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
6 of 9 found the following review helpful:
 A thousand peaceful napsSep 13, 2004
By Bil Antoniou
"Movie madness!"
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.
 Where's the Peace?Mar 13, 2012
By Speleobuff
An extraordinary film, rife with grim beauty, but not for the impatient or anyone looking for a feel-good gay film, despite its (ironic) title. If anything, this is one of the most understated gay tragedies one could imagine, with barely a page of dialogue to diffuse it. I've spent the past couple years exploring Spanish-language gay cinema, and this is one of the more memorable (and there are many good films to chose from, somewhat surprisingly). But it could hardly be less optimistic or more tinged with soul-sucking sadness. All I wanted to do was take the lead in my arms and assure him that there is love out there for him. Depicting one clumsy encounter after another, this lovely, love-lorn teenager is treated by all as a common hustler, though it is painfully obvious that what he is looking for is someone to love and be loved by in return. The over-the-top ending (which I won't spoil), whether symbolic or brutal realism, is crushing. Not for everybody, a masochistic pleasure at best, but a film that succeeds in capturing a seldom-explored despair, treating it with such sensitivity, that it approaches a masterwork. Where it falls short, if indeed it does, is in the lack of any reprieve from the slow, down-spiraling trajectory in a loveless world of poverty & heartbreak, where human contact is one-sided & mercenary, and hope is crushed out like a cigarette butt.
arty but sometimes compelling filmMay 22, 2005
By Roland E. Zwick
"A Thousand Clouds of Peace" is a low budget Mexican oddity, filmed in grainy black-and-white, that has the look and feel of an "art film" stamped all over it. It is a largely nonverbal tale of a 17-year old named Gerardo who, having just been dumped by his boyfriend, now spends his days and nights wandering around the city in a desultory daze, trying to come to terms with his loneliness and despair.
"A Thousand Clouds of Peace" is definitely an acquired taste, but a person who opens himself up to the beauty of its images and the pervasiveness of its mood may find himself intrigued - if not exactly mesmerized - by the experience. The film consists mainly of Gerardo staring soulfully either into the distance or directly into the camera, but Juan Carlos Ortuno creates such a brooding presence that we actually find ourselves touched by the universality of his character's plight. By providing little in the way of drama, dialogue and character interaction, writer/director Julian Hernandez gives the film the simplified form of a parable, turning it into a study of heartbreak and unrequited love, but one stripped of all the usual distractions and clutter.
Dreamlike in its imagery and pacing, "A Thousand Clouds of Peace" will remind you of any number of European art films from the 1960's. Take that as either a recommendation or a warning, depending on your own personal taste.
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