Araby

Affonso Uchôa and João Dumans
2017
98 minutes

Description

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.

Reviews

“ARABY opens quietly but builds with tremendous emotional force.”
— Manohla Dargis, 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