Using the classic One Thousand and One Nights as a foundation, Miguel Gomes follows up Tabu with his most ambitious film yet. Told in three parts, Gomes crafts an equally surreal and painfully realistic tapestry that ultimately reveals a portrait of contemporary Portugal. In “The Restless One” the beautiful Scheherazade begins weaving a series of tales about crisis-plagued Portugal for the sultan in a bid to save her own life. The stories continue in “The Desolate One,” with tales about an elderly fugitive, stolen cows and a lost dog in a depressed Lisbon housing estate. The final segment, “The Enchanted One,” sees Scheherazade move from storyteller to subject, as her father worries her desperate attempt to stay alive will be her undoing. The collection of tales reflecting the country’s miserable austerity is epic in scope and theme, toggling between genres and styles but always sharp in its criticism and humor. Arabian Nights could be Gomes’ most passionate, heartbreaking film to date—a film whose sorrow and rage are clear in every satiric, clever frame.