82
Metascore
8 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100The Hollywood ReporterNeil YoungThe Hollywood ReporterNeil YoungAn intriguingly structured, multilayered road movie in which an ordinary working-class dude looks back over a nation-wandering decade of his life, this second collaboration by the writer-directors is a cumulatively engrossing and ultimately very moving work of clear-eyed political intent.
- 91The Film StageLeonardo GoiThe Film StageLeonardo GoiJudiciously gritty in its specifics, Araby’s scope is ecumenical.
- 90Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleLos Angeles TimesRobert AbeleA migrant worker’s journal opens up a world for a disaffected teenager, and us, in Araby, a beautifully turned Brazilian movie that carries on as if a social-cause documentary and a folk song confessional had entered into a poignant embrace.
- 88Slant MagazineJames LattimerSlant MagazineJames LattimerA carefree life on the move is steadily and exquisitely overtaken by melancholy in writer-directors João Dumans and Affonso Uchoa’s Arábia, the portrait of a meandering journey fueled by song, anecdote, and landscape that zeroes in on the pressures of contemporary Brazil almost in passing.
- 80The New York TimesGlenn KennyThe New York TimesGlenn KennyThanks to Mr. de Sousa’s superb performance, the movie often convincingly portrays not just the exploited condition of laborers such as Cristiano, but the nagging sadness of life itself.
- Araby stays so grounded in acutely observed behavior, while still sufficiently elliptical in its storytelling methods, that it successfully avoids getting up on any particular soapbox.
- 70Village VoiceMatt PriggeVillage VoiceMatt PriggeA soundtrack of folk/country classics takes the edge off, but make no mistake: This is a beautiful bummer, giving voice to someone who’s barely a number, but only to remind us that most of us are OK not thinking about numbers at all.
- 58The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyThe A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyThe film is far less than the sum of its possibilities.