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Golden Door (2006)

tomatometer

72

Average Rating: 6.8/10
Reviews Counted: 86
Fresh: 62 | Rotten: 24

Slow-moving but ultimately rewarding, Golden Door is a profound drama with scenes of fantastical magical realism, lively humor, and stunning images.

64

Average Rating: 6.9/10
Critic Reviews: 28
Fresh: 18 | Rotten: 10

Slow-moving but ultimately rewarding, Golden Door is a profound drama with scenes of fantastical magical realism, lively humor, and stunning images.

audience

67

liked it
Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 4,941

My Rating

Movie Info

A family living in poverty leaves behind the world they know in hope of finding new opportunities in this historical drama from director Emanuele Crialese. The Mancusos are a family struggling to make ends meet in a small farming community in Sicily in 1913. Life has long been hard for the Mancuso Family, who have lived in the same village for generations, and one day they are visited by a man who claims to be from the United States. The man tells them of the wonder and plenty of life in

PG-13, 1 hr. 58 min.

Art House & International, Drama

Emanuele Crialese

Jan 8, 2008

$0.9M

Miramax Films

Cast

All Critics (89) | Top Critics (29) | Fresh (65) | Rotten (24) | DVD (6)

Yes, the details are spot-on and realistic in the extreme. But we've seen them before. It's the story Crialese hangs this detail on that's weak.

July 13, 2007 Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel | Comment
Orlando Sentinel
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Its minutiae don't bring a lump in the throat -- just a drumming of the fingers.

June 29, 2007 Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | Comment
Houston Chronicle
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The rhythms of the movie are slow and daydreamy, but [director] Crialese delights in breaking up the realism with his protagonist's mystical -- almost madcap -- visions of the New World's abbondanza.

June 29, 2007 Full Review Source: New York Magazine | Comment
New York Magazine
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The film never really coheres, and although some scenes are amazing, the total is slow, ponderous and sometimes silly.

June 28, 2007 Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | Comment
Arizona Republic
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Turns an old story into something completely new.

June 22, 2007 Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press | Comment
Detroit Free Press
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Writer/director Emanuel Crialese gives his atmospheric film a look of daguerreotype authenticity.

June 21, 2007 Comment
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Prince of the New World

July 23, 2009 Full Review Source: JWR | Comment

I would imagine that if you have a close connection to Ellis Island immigrants, you will be similarly touched by this movie.

August 17, 2008 Full Review Source: 7M Pictures | Comment
7M Pictures

The film's cinematography by Agnès Godard is breathtaking at times, especially early on during exterior scenes.

January 15, 2008 Full Review Source: Laramie Movie Scope | Comment
Laramie Movie Scope

Crialese presents enough historical detail to give many 2nd and 3rd generation Americans today an idea of what physical and mental scrutiny their grandparents might have been subjected to in order to be accepted through the "Golden Door."

January 14, 2008 Full Review Source: Cinema Signals | Comment
Cinema Signals

The journey to America by an Italian peasant and his family, conveying their yearning for a new life in scenes of magical realism.

January 10, 2008 Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | Comment
Spirituality and Practice

is all facade and no force

January 8, 2008 Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | Comment
Filmcritic.com

Thanks to Martin Scorsese's seal of approval, Emanuele Crialese's Golden Door may now he salvaged from critical and popular disinterest.

January 8, 2008 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | Comment
Slant Magazine

Its series of episodes don't always add up to a single, cohesive narrative so much as they seem a succession of surrealistic impressions.

January 6, 2008 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis | Comment
Movie Metropolis

Although the movie's plot line is rather flimsy and its characters somewhat distant, the movie's images are hard to forget.

January 6, 2008 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis | Comment
Movie Metropolis

Not as inspiring as it should be.

December 23, 2007 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | Comment
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

The early parts require some patience, but the film richly rewards that patience. I know of no film that so patiently and so completely documents the Ellis Island experience.

December 20, 2007 Full Review | Comment
rec.arts.movies.reviews

Golden Door is a cinematic treasure reimagining the emotional landscape of Ellis Island, dipped in the delights of magical realism and the enchanting nomadic dual consciousness of cultural relativism.

December 8, 2007 Full Review Source: NewsBlaze | Comment
NewsBlaze

Punishing but eye-opening immigrant tale.

October 22, 2007 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Common Sense Media

So enjoyable and visually stimulating is the experience, it's tough to knock Crialese's Door.

August 15, 2007 Full Review Source: Arizona Daily Star | Comment
Arizona Daily Star

Although it has a gorgeous, lyrical visual style, it contains no stirring speeches or sentimentality.

August 10, 2007 Comment
Kansas City Star

Golden Door belongs to(Vincenzo) Amato (Respiro). He makes this tale of woe and wonderment the charmer it turns out to be.

August 3, 2007 Comment

[Director] Crialese's talent for poetic illusion, and for finding the general within the microcosm, is reminiscent of Steven Spielberg.

July 19, 2007 Full Review Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | Comment
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Golden Door

"Golden Door" is an intricately detailed yet ethereal movie about the journey of a group of Italian peasants to America around 1900. Hoping to be reunited with his brother in the New World, Salvatore Mancuso(Vincenzo Amato) travels with his sons Angelo(Francesco Casisa) and Pietro(Filippo Pucillo), along with his

December 3, 2008
Harlequin68
Walter M.

Super Reviewer

Well-shot immigration drama ends on quite a peculiar note.

October 23, 2007
wbgoose13

Super Reviewer

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Foreign Titles

  • The Golden Door (UK)
  • Golden Door (Nuovomondo) (CA)
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