A temperamental old woman, her Cape Verdean maid and a neighbor devoted to social causes live on the same apartment building in Lisbon. When the old lady dies, the other two learn of an episode from her past: a tale of love and crime set in an Africa straight from the world of adventure films.

Miguel Gomes’s dazzling two-pronged tribute to old age, memory, and classic cinema is a bewitching, often funny journey with an atmosphere all its own. Like the ingenious Arabian Nights, Tabu is nearly impossible to categorize, but one thing’s for certain: it’s an arthouse high point of the 2010s.