Cinema listings with film information and movie reviews
Arabian Nights Volume 1: The Restless One
Celebrated Portuguese filmmaker Miguel Gomes vents his spleen about the devastating impact of global austerity on his country in this first salvo of an audacious trilogy. Drawing inspiration from real life stories of hardship and misery, the director and co-writers Telmo Churro and Mariana Ricardo employ the storytelling tradition of One Thousand And One Nights as a structure to lampoon and satirise people in power, who have mercilessly preyed upon the poor and vulnerable. Scheherazade (Crista Alfaiate) is at the mercy of her murderous husband, the sultan, who agrees that she may live so long as she entertains him with a story each night. Thus she spins fantastical tales like The Story Of The Cockerel And The Fire and a saucy yarn about fat cats undone by a wizard (Basirou Diallo), who offers them a magical sprays that guarantees permanent erections, giving new meaning to the concept of hard times.
