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Regular
Price $24.99
Starring:
Ninetto Davoli,
Franco Citti,
Tessa Bouché,
Margaret Clementi,
Ines Pellegrini,
Directed By:
Pier Paolo Pasolini,
Rated: NC-17
Release Date: 1974
Studio: Image Entertainment
Format:
Color,
DVD-Video,
Letterboxed,
Widescreen,
NTSC,
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Customer Reviews for
Arabian Nights
Arabian Nights
As if I walked into a dream; actually many dreams. The stories are interwoven and you get hooked on each.Arabian Nights
A DVD zone THEY LIKE IT BUT I DON'T
I perfectly understand that the cinema of, let's say, Werner Herzog, King Vidor or Andrei Tarkovski, can be described as poetic but I don't think that this adjective is relevant regarding Pasolini's ARABIAN NIGHTS. I didn't find in this movie an ounce of poetry. To present Arab tales in a very realistic manner, with the exception of one or two scenes, is maybe original, perfectly boring but not at all poetic. Furthermore, I'm not specially excited by the presentation of nude teenagers, masculine and feminine, making love in a rather mechanic manner and by the erotic toys shown by Pasolini in his movie. So I strongly advise you to reread or buy a copy of "A Thousand and One Nights", a book that has the merit to plounge his reader in an imaginary poetic world and leave ARABIAN NIGHTS to Pasolini's aficionados.Arabian Nights
If it's dreamlike, then it was a bad dream
Like a National Geographic documentary about this part of the world with scenes of bad acting edited in, all incoherently edited and incompetently filmed. Some of the Italian seems dubbed at times, and the "sex" scenes are so unsexy, devoid of any molecule of desire--like a stag film with bad production values. Don't get me started on the scene in the tent with the golden bow and "arrow"! I paid $8.50 to see this at a theater and walked out 2/3 of the way through. The only bright light is the arresting young actress who plays the doomed Aziza.Arabian Nights
ARABIAN NIGHTS -
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.Arabian Nights
Outstanding, poetry in cinema...
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.Arabian Nights
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