[Director] Crialese ends his film on an exquisite note of fantasy: an indelible image of hope and good fortune. His vision is unique; his film, strange and lovely.
Comment
06/27/07
Golden Door (2007)
71
%
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
Emanuele Crialese's wondrous Nuovomondo (Golden Door) recalls America's erstwhile promise with a mix of exhilaration and delicacy, peppered with judicious insight.
06/24/07
Images on a movie screen can either show the truth literally or evoke it emotionally. The Golden Door, tries to do both, alternating visions of stark realism with poetically dreamlike material in an unsteady and, ultimately, unsatisfying blend.
06/22/07
Director Emanuele Crialese passes no judgments, capturing the mundane and miraculous alike.
06/22/07
Turns an old story into something completely new.
06/22/07
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
Painted onscreen in a hypnotic mix of hypercharged naturalism and magic realism, Golden Door is not about the destination but the journey.
06/21/07
Writer/director Emanuel Crialese gives his atmospheric film a look of daguerreotype authenticity.
06/21/07
As close as the movies come to poetry.
06/21/07
There's a big difference between slowly unfurling a difficult story so that it rewards a patient audience, and simply teasing viewers nearly to the point of torture. The Golden Door [skirts] dangerously close to the torturous.
06/21/07
I've got to be honest here. In the interest of full disclosure, I must confess that I was not entirely awake all the way through.
06/15/07
Darkly painted, but loaded with humour and ultimately sweetly optimistic.
06/15/07
Unfolding like a gorgeous coffee-table book of photographs, Emanuele Crialese's film Golden Door is as lovely to look at as it is dramatically inert.
06/15/07
The folkloric tone that seemed so pretentious in [Respiro] is powerfully effective here.
06/15/07
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
A three-paneled piece, where the strength lies in the detail work rather than the larger brushstrokes.
06/15/07
Top CriticA 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
There's an old Zen saying, 'It's the journey, not the destination.' The Golden Door offers an extraordinary journey of its own.
06/15/07
It remains an extraordinarily strong, fascinating look at the genesis of the traditional immigrant tale, not the idealized finale.
06/14/07
Italian director Emanuele Crialese has infused the age-old plot with dazzling visual style, dollops of magical realism and profound emotional truth that infuse what we think we know with new verve and resonance.
06/14/07
Latest News for Golden Door
June 14, 2007:
Critical Consensus: "Silver Surfer" Trips Fantastically, "Nancy Drew" Without a Clue, "DOA" Dead on Arrival
Pop quiz, hotshot: which of the lesser Roberts do you prefer? Because this Friday, it's a match between Eric Roberts (playing the bad guy in "DOA: Dead or Alive") and... More...
June 12, 2007:
european-films.net's preview & trailer 
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May 24, 2007:
Critical Consensus: "Pirates" is Adrift, "Bug" Creepy and Crawly
This week at the movies, it's the pirates ("Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," starring Johnny Depp and Keira Knightley) versus the bugs ("Bug,"... More...
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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