Arabian Nights: Volume 2 - The Desolate One

This year's most ambitious cinematic undertaking - and the most talked about experience of last year's Cannes - is Miguel Gomes' (Tabu, a Bristol hit) uniquely imaginative, wildly ambitious three part fable that adopts the structure from Scheherazade's Arabian Nights to explore Portugal's plunge into austerity. Although each film in the trilogy can be enjoyed individually, it is probably best to see all three films: we will be screening Volume One: The Restless One (from Fri 22 April for at least one week) and Volume Three: The Enchanted One (from Fri 6 May for one week).

Part Two of his majestic folk tale relates how desolation has invaded humanity - through stories involving a distressed judge on a night of three moons, a runaway, a teleporting murderer, a wounded cow, a sad, chain-smoking couple in a concrete apartment block, and a ghost dog named Dixie (who is undoubtedly the star of the whole trilogy!). It speaks grim truths about economic paranoia and societal morass while balancing its many eccentricities with smarts, sensual delights, and one helluva soundtrack.

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