81
Metascore
9 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100Village VoiceCalum MarshVillage VoiceCalum MarshThe stories have an almost dreamlike sweep and imaginative energy, and the film never exhausts that exuberance. More extraordinary still is its emotional depth.
- 100CineVueBen NicholsonCineVueBen NicholsonArabian Nights may frustrate and enervate, but with hindsight these blemishes fade into a gleaming collage.
- 100The PlaylistOliver LytteltonThe PlaylistOliver LytteltonFor all the film’s politics, Arabian Nights can also be whimsical, swooningly romantic, inspiring, fascinating, or deeply sad.
- 88RogerEbert.comScout TafoyaRogerEbert.comScout TafoyaThe melancholy that falls over this chapter is hard to shake but its tempered slightly by the love Gomes has for his characters, bad habits, ingrained sadness and all.
- 80Total FilmJamie GrahamTotal FilmJamie GrahamVolumes one and two are especially captivating, as Gomes himself appears onscreen to tell of how he charged a team of researchers with scouring Portugal in search of tales.
- 75The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyThe A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyArabian Nights’ off-the-cuff, community-theater vibe ends up underlining its origins as a creative reaction to social and economic crisis.
- 75The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Kate TaylorThe Globe and Mail (Toronto)Kate TaylorGomes believes we should all take responsibility for one another and sees austerity as a government abrogation of social duty that ultimately turns citizen against citizen.
- 70The New York TimesA.O. ScottThe New York TimesA.O. ScottIt is worth sticking with it until the end, since the third part is the most powerful.
- 63Slant MagazineClayton DillardSlant MagazineClayton DillardIt forays into satirical terrain in order to elide actual dealings with the problems at hand, so that each piece feels alternatively frivolous and weighty.