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30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
ARABIAN NIGHTS -, July 7, 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: Arabian Nights [VHS] (VHS Tape)
My first experience with Pasolini was his "Salo" movie and it was a mixed experience I am still contemplating. However, "Arabian Nights" was my second outing with this director and I found this film to be an enchanting, atmospheric work of art. This is what the real tales of the Arabian Nights must have resembled. No Hollywood glitz, no gilding of any lillies, only alluring scenery filled with lurid tales of love, lust, revenge and fulfillment. Really try to see this masterpiece! Next for me will be the "Decameron" and then, "Canterbury Tales". Thank you.
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51 of 57 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding, poetry in cinema..., February 17, 2002
I've been recently watching this movie again and I was so glad that I went through the expense and bought this out of print DVD. This is the movie that is bigger that its genre, it is a poem indeed. This is the case with other films that are art and not just entertainment. I actually find Arabian Nights more exotic and romantic that Canterbury Tales, but I would not judge which is my favorite among the three of them (i.e. plus Decameron). Each has its own character and I believe Pasolini excelled in conveying that special air and mood that each book represents. I find Arabian Nights also the most melancholic and mysterious, and I think that it was Pasolini's goal, also. I wouldn't say that the people in this film are necessarily beautiful - Pasolini aesthetics are quite controversial and might not be universally accepted. This is the case with all his films. The incredible result, though, is that with non-professional actors and himself not having any cinematography education, he achieved the pinnacle of cinema art. For me, films like this is the same to cinema as Michelangelo's creations are to sculpture, and it is only incomprehensible how come that it's almost impossible to buy Pasolini's DVDs at a reasonable price, especially when looking at the mass production garbage that occupies shelves of video stores. The irony is that Pasolini was tormented by the same question about the role of crude and mindless entertainment being served from TV. I hope that despite everything, his art will live and win over people minds...Last advice for viewers - steer clear if you don't like "boring foreign movies with subtitles and without action". This is exactly it.
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
DON'T LISTEN TO THE CRITICS AND BUY IT!, March 23, 2000
Don't listen to se people who says that this movie is not well-done and there's a bad acting. This is the poetique of Pasolini, one of the most intellectual writers-poets-directors- of Europe. Difficult to appreciate in a first moment, you will understand his kind of direction (poor and with non professional actors, a sort of refusal to the capitalistic cinema) probabily when you will read his books about his movie-theories. This is one of his best movies, but Salò is definitively the best, a summary of his controversial ideals (he was communist and catholic at the same time, and his little movie 'La Ricotta' was excommunicated by the Pope). His movies testify a tormented age of politics and ideals in Europe during the '60 and the '70.
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