A wonderfully poetic film offering a fresh perspective on America's early immigrants, Golden Door is as affecting as it is innovative
Comment
06/29/07
Golden Door (2007)
71
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Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:83
Fresh:59
Rotten:24
Average Rating:6.8/10
Consensus: Slow-moving but ultimately rewarding, Golden Door is a profound drama with scenes of fantastical magical realism, lively humor, and stunning images.
Theatrical Release:29-06-2007
Synopsis: Set in 1913, GOLDEN DOOR begins in a treacherous, barren, and rocky area of the Sicilian countryside. On advice from a stranger, a widowed father named Salvatore Mancuso (Vincenzo Amato) decides to... [More]
Reviews for Golden Door
Top CriticExcept during the pointed and crisply staged scenes of testing and quarantine, his movie feels thoroughly adrift.
06/29/07
Top CriticTedious and bland - entry denied!
06/29/07
Top CriticHis excellent new film gives us the fierceness without the syrup: a solidly constructed film with a brilliant visual sense, tremendous performances and an eloquent, dreamy sense of time and place. It held me in every frame.
06/29/07
Top CriticThe details of this chaotic odyssey to the New World are so intricately and poignantly handled that throughout a voice in your head insists: this is how it must have been.
06/29/07
A powerful look at the quirks of human nature, weaving in a subtle but overwhelmingly powerful political message.
05/23/07
It’s an eye-opening insight into pre-Virgin Atlantic travel, beautifully acted by its mainly Italian cast and guaranteed to make you count your blessings.
06/29/07
The film is touching, imaginative and makes the best of its cash through a minimalist skill that shows Crialese to be a genuinely original director.
06/29/07
Gorgeous to look at, unfashionably optimistic and quirkily seductive, this is a robust joy of a movie. It’s certainly one of my favourite releases of the year so far.
06/29/07
Top CriticMaking the most of an evidently limited budget, Crialese makes the Promised Land seem as poignantly out of reach to us as it is to his tragic characters.
06/29/07
I would imagine that if you have a close connection to Ellis Island immigrants, you will be similarly touched by this movie.
08/17/08
So enjoyable and visually stimulating is the experience, it's tough to knock Crialese's Door.
08/15/07
The film never really coheres, and although some scenes are amazing, the total is slow, ponderous and sometimes silly.
06/28/07
A STRIKINGLY shot tale of Sicilian villagers seeking a better life in America, Golden Door is so minimalist, it's practically a silent film.
06/15/07
Despite the hardships depicted, Golden Door is a sweet film at heart, playing witness to the birth pangs of modern America with both due respect and the occasional comic grace note, but not, oddly, one single shot of the Statue of Liberty.
06/22/07
It excels at documenting the humiliating (and sometimes terrifying) physical and mental tests that face these weary travelers.
06/02/07
At its best, The Golden Door generates the excitement to be had whenever a historical movie achieves the shock of the new.
07/10/07
A movie about immigration that even Lou Dobbs can get behind. It's so hypnotically breathtaking, you don't realize you're not breathing. By the final shot, you don't realize you're crying either, but there go the tears.
06/15/07
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04/23/09
Golden Door resounds with moments of pure cinema seldom encountered anymore, where sound and image combine to create a lyricism that transcends the story
05/24/07
Latest News for Golden Door
June 14, 2007:
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June 12, 2007:
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May 24, 2007:
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May 19, 2007:
Rarely has a film penetrated beneath the usual stereotypes to the private fears and conflicted dreams of immigrants of whatever time.
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