JULIAN HERNANDEZ

Bil’s rating (out of 5):   BB.5

Original title:  Mil Nubes De Paz Cercan El Cielo, Amor, Jamas Acabaras De Ser Amor

Mexico, 2003.  Nubes Cine, Cooperativa Cinematográfica Morelos, Titán Producciones, Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía.  Screenplay by Julian Hernandez.  Cinematography by Diego Arizmendi.  Produced by Roberto Fiesco.  Production Design by Carolina Jimenez.  Film Editing by Emiliano Arenales Osorio, Jacopo Hernandez.  

Gerardo 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, dropped out of school 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 guy 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 isn’t terrible, just not particularly interesting, and even the most devoted art film lovers will have their patience challenged.