Araby

Araby

Affonso Uchôa, João Dumans / 2017 / 98 minutes / Spine #18

Andre, a teenager, lives in an industrial town in Brazil near an old aluminum factory. One day, a factory worker, Cristiano, suffers an accident. Asked to go to Cristiano’s house to pick up clothes and documents, Andre stumbles on a notebook, and it’s here that Araby begins — or, rather, transforms. As Andre reads from the journal entries, we are plunged into Cristiano’s life, into stories of his wanderings, adventures, and loves. Beautifully written and filmed, Araby is a fable-like road movie about a young man who sets off on a ten-year journey in search of a better life.


DVD SPECIAL FEATURES

 

The Hidden Tiger (2014, 95 minutes), a feature film directed by Affonso Uchoa, co-written with João Dumans, and starring Aristides de Sousa, the lead actor from Araby

 

• To Each Their Own (2014, 34 minutes), a short film by João Dumans, consisting of photos dating back to the 1960s taken by Dumans’ father of Ouro Preto, the setting of Araby

 

• Theatrical Trailer


THE PROJECTR BLOG

 

→ Read Affonso Uchôa’s Single Takes column on Yaaba

→ Read João Dumans Single Takes column on the short films of Jem Cohen

 

    DVD

    1 Disc

    SRP: $29.95
     

    Our Price:
    $23.95

  • "Araby opens quietly but builds with tremendous emotional force."

    — Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
  • "An instant classic. Has the truly rare capacity to inspire and energize with the optimistic sense that nothing is impossible."

    — Neil Young, The Hollywood Reporter
  • "Critic's Pick! [A] Superb performance... beautifully incarnated by Aristides de Sousa."

    — Glenn Kenny, The New York Times
  • “A beautifully turned Brazilian movie... Directed with unforced simplicity and heart… feels part of a through line from Italian neorealism to the issue-driven storytellers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne.”

    — Robert Abele, LA Times
  • "One of the best films of the year."

    — Kieron Corless, Sight & Sound
  • "de Sousa, like James Dean, radiates loneliness, effortlessly anchors images of outsider dejection... Araby offers not one narrative, but a bouquet of them."

    — Nick Pinkerton, Reverse Shot
  • "This story within a story unfolds mesmerizingly into a neo-Kerouacian road drama."

    — Jonathan Romney, Film Comment
  • "Quietly mesmerizing. A sublime slice of poetic realism.”

    — Paul O’Callaghan, Sight and Sound
  • "Grade: A-. I found myself pinned to my seat."

    — Bradley Warren, The Playlist
Trailer / Clips
Stills