Love's a bitch: Mexican import A Thousand Clouds of Peace is an intoxicating look at lost love.

A Thousand Clouds of Peace Written and directed by Julian Hernandez * Starring Juan Carlos Ortuno, Juan Carlos Torres * Strand Releasing

Even considering the recent spate of Mexican features that have found fame in the United States, the emergence of Julian Hernandez's A Thousand Clouds of Peace is newsworthy. An artistic tour de force--especially for a first feature--it is also one of the most frank and complex depictions of gay desire ever to emerge in Mexican cinema. 'Telling an engrossing and emotional story of a young man's search for love, the film, which won the coveted Teddy Award for best feature film at the 2003 Berlin International Film Festival, also heralds the emergence of a prodigious new filmmaking talent on the world stage.

The story follows Gerardo, a lonely young man living in Mexico City who has just broken up with his lover. Silent and soulful, Gerardo seeks emotional connection in liaisons with other men. Too often brushed off or placated with offensive offers of money, he fairly starves for something deeper and more lasting. The supreme disappointment comes when a particularly kind and tender man stands him up, saying goodbye in an apologetic letter. Gerardo's search for this lost lover leads him deeper into the urban jungle and, indeed, to the center of the film, where lonely and sometimes destructive souls collide.

Striking Juan Carlos Ortuno portrays Gerardo in a hushed but emotionally thunderous performance, embodying the twin experiences of hurt and hope that propel his character across this narrative terrain. Stylistically, the film underlines Ortuno's remarkable performance, achieving a seamless but dynamic blend of influences, including the lush romanticism of genre films from Mexican cinema and the ironic remove (revered but rarely emulated) of director Luis Bunuel.

The film's exquisite black-and-white cinematography and extraordinarily textured sound design form an intoxicating cinematic brew. Hernandez and producing partner Roberto Fiesco actually developed this style since the mid '90s in a number of short films that have often single-handedly represented Mexico at gay film festivals worldwide. With this haunting feature, Hernandez fulfills the promise of that earlier work, presenting a unique and indelible vision of gay life--in particular, the gulf that can separate men whom desire has brought together.

Kelley is senior consultant to the Sundance Festival's documentary program and a consultant to independent filmmakers.