Golden Door

2006

118 mins

Directed by Emanuele Crialese
72%
69%
Drama
Award Winner

Follows the turn-of-the-century journey of a family of emigrants across the ocean to the New World. While sprinkled with magical... More

Follows the turn-of-the-century journey of a family of emigrants across the ocean to the New World. While sprinkled with magical realist glimpses of an idealized America (rivers of milk, giant carrots), Golden Door is unflinching in its depiction of both the rocky Sicilian hillside town where his poor protagonists come from and their brutal experiences during the Atlantic passage and stranded in Ellis Island. Gone are the familiar romanticized visions of Italy as well as clichés of the majestic Gotham skyline. Instead, Crialese creates a more original immigrant's story... One particular image - an overhead shot of the boat pulling away from the Sicilian shore, slowly separating the emigres from those left behind - is masterfully executed. And the final image - poetic, silly and darkly ironic - is a sharp-edged coda to a satisfying cinematic journey.

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Golden Door | Ratings & Reviews

72_%86 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes® rating
69_%5,135 reviews
Audience score rating

"With dialogue kept to a minimum, cinematographer Agnés Godard confirms her status as one of the most extraordinary visual artists working today..."

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Village Voice

"An imaginative, intelligent and attractive Italo pic precisely when the country needs it most, Emanuele Crialese's "Golden Door" reps a solid piece of cinema that neither panders nor preaches. Moving from rural Sicily to third-class steerage to Ellis Island, this tripartite tale of a family's journey from the Old World to the New propels them from a superstitious past into a colder-eyed modernity. Meticulously researched, pic slips only when it uncharacteristically departs from the focused story and too obviously attempts a lesson..."

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Variety

"An emigrant's-eye view of going to America is a film of some mastery, channelling Fellini and speaking to the present day..."

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New Zealand Herald

"n the dawning days of the 20th century, Italian migrants seek passage to America in The Golden Door. It's an ambitious undertaking for writer/director Emanuele Crialese, who found wide acclaim with his bittersweet drama Respiro (2003). Once again, family ties hold the story together as he follows the Mancusos on a tough Atlantic crossing. But while these passengers clock up a lot of mileage, a sketchy script leaves them floating adrift for most of the journey..."

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