The latest work by celebrated Portuguese auteur Miguel Gomes (b. 1972) is a three-part, six-hour epic that takes inspiration from the “Arabian Nights” to weave a sprawling tapestry of tragicomic tales of hardship and humanity set explicitly, and metaphorically, in present-day Portugal. The multiple voices that enriched Gomes’ earlier films Tabu (2012) and The Face You Deserve (2004) give way to the boisterous chorus of strange and beguiling contemporary folk tales released by his Scheherazade, fables that often spin into the realm of a wry magical realism while inevitably pointing to the underlying story that unites them all: the extreme financial crisis gripping Portugal today. Eschewing any traditional screenplay, Gomes worked over the course of twelve months (starting in August 2013) with a team of journalists to collect and adapt actual stories that took place across Portugal and that somehow refract the austerity measures imposed upon the nation. A poignantly and often absurdist meta-fable of dignity and despair, Arabian Nights gives gravitas and comic grace to the struggles of the working and middle classes so clearly admired by Gomes. A masterful work of cinematic storytelling, Arabian Nights derives much of its visual lushness and overripeness from the dazzling cinematography of regular Apichatpong Weerasethakul collaborator Sayombhu Mukdeeprom. – Haden Guest