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. (Grasshopper)
An instant classic. Marked by boundless humanism.
- Neil Young, The Hollywood Reporter
An epistolic ode to labour, love, and life on the road.
- Jay Kuehner, Cinema Scope
Araby opens quietly but builds with tremendous emotional force.
- Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
This story within a story unfolds mesmerizingly into a neo-Kerouacian road drama.
- Jonathan Romney, Film Comment
[A] small marvel of storytelling transmogrification, Araby is a film that, in its own way, plays with the deployment and cross-examination of narrative strategies.
- Nick Pinkerton, Reverse Shot
(Available to download after screening date)