The Aura

Fabian Bielinsky's sudden death gave me an incentive to write these lines. Since the first time I watched "El aura" (The aura) -three times by now- I was touched by an awkward, strange feeling. ¿What was about? A story of a zombie, a man who is not aware about his own death (This is not an spoiler, nothing to do with the plot). In a way, it was the same thing I felt watching "Carnival of Souls" (Herk Harvey 1962). These movies are not only about ghosts, lost souls, lost people, they were made by them. Ricardo Darin's character is Bielinsky himself: had he the feeling about his impending end? If you didn't know anything about this weird tale, take a look of it. Some people complain about its pace, the story, the absolute lack of sense of humor. And they compare El Aura with Nine Queens, the other Bielinsky's movie. In my point of view Nine Queen is a nice, frivolous exercise, but once and for all, "El aura" is a whole new game, a different stage. If you are in the right mood, it will take you to another world, the world from Bielinsky was making this film, near his own end.

It's a shame that one of the most talented newcomers of the Latin-American cinema is now dead. Fabian Bielinsky delivers another fantastic movie, written by him, like the amazing "Nueve Reinas – Nine Queens". The lead is once again Ricardo Darin, and this is another proof that this union (Bielinsky-Darin) is unstoppable. The story is about a taxidermist with a great memory and epilepsy.

Ricardo Darin's performance is excellent: quiet, meticulous, and sharp. The movie is quite long, but the ending is perfect. Everything is where it should be. Is particularly original the way that Bielinsky presents the seizures on the lead role: the aura, is a moment of a "mixed up" reality when everything can happen.

Simply fantastic, please dedicate time to see this last job of a very great artist.

Fabián Bielinsky's last movie excellently performed by Argentina big star , Ricardo Darin . It deals with Espinoza (magnificent , as always , Ricardo Darin) is a quiet taxidermist who secretly dreams of executing the perfect crime. On his first ever hunting trip, in the calm of the Patagonian forest, his dreams are made reality with one squeeze of the trigger. Espinoza accidentally murders an old man named Dietrich (Manuel Rodal) married a young girl (a young Dolores Fonzi gives an enjoyable acting ) who results out to be a real criminal and inherits his scheme: the heist of an armored van carrying casino profits. Caught up in a world of complex new rules and frightening violence, Espinoza's lack of experience puts him in real danger. And he has another, more dangerous liability : he is an epileptic. Before each seizure he is visited by the ''aura'' . These attacks appear without notice when he least expects them, just when he needs all his wits about him .

This is a co-production Argentina/Spain , being well paced , skillfully edited and suspenseful . Interesting and exciting movie about a deluded taxidermist who plans the perfect robbery ; it is plenty of thrills , intense drama , violence , action and is pretty interesting . However , the picture turns out to be overlong and slow moving . Very good acting by Ricardo Darin as a shy taxidermist who suffers epilepsy attacks , a paradoxical moment of confusion and enlightenment where the past and future seem to blend , and he is obsessed with committing the perfect crime. Darin is an excellent leading figure of the most important Argentinian movies such as "El Faro" (1998), "El Mismo Amor La Misma Lluvia" (1999), "Nueve Reinas" (2000), "La Fuga" (2001) and especially ¨El Hijo de la Novia¨ . Stirring as well as sensitive musical score by Lucio Godoy , an extraordinary composer expert on dark atmospheres such as ¨Rage¨, ¨Night runner¨, ¨The others¨, ¨Intacto¨ and many others . Colorful and evocative cinematography by Checco Varese . The motion picture well produced by great producers Gerardo Herrero and Victor Hadida , was compellingly directed by Fabian Bielinsky , in his second and last film , the first was also successful titled ¨9 Reinas¨ also starred by Ricardo Darin and even had an American remake . Fabian sadly deceased at 47 years old . This is an above average film and Argentina's official submission to the 2006 Academy Awards for the category of Foreign Language Film . The picture will appeal to Ricardo Darin fans and thriller aficionados .

El Aura has an interesting idea (man dreams about a big time robbery and gets the chance to do so in an unexpected way) but the way it is all worked out is just too slow. Though the pace does work on some moments, and I do certainly not always mind slow paced movies, it didn't have enough tension for me to keep my thoughts constantly on the movie. The images are nice, I liked the setting, it is well shot and atmospheric, but it seemed to me that the director was too much of a perfectionist with his focus on every separate scene instead of the whole of the movie. Which is a shame, as I think that with about 45 minutes less, I would have liked it a lot more. I certainly don't mind if a shot of a thinking man takes up long seconds but if that happens all the time, with about everything that's going on, well, I know the game and it looses it's strength to me.

The script itself was also not always very believable. I'll not go into details, but the reality of the story definitely had it's flaws.

All together it was disappointing, because the potential is certainly there. If the silence would have been used only in certain parts and less in the rest of the movie, and parts of the script would have been just a bit more believable, it would have worked better for me. I know I will get down rates for this review, as most people seem to be totally lyrical about it, but I just can't make anything more of it. Slow is great if there is a lot of tension. In this case, there were too many scenes were slow was used without that needed tension.

Maybe I watched it with too high expectations. I'll still give it a 7 out of 10 because it was good enough to not give it anything less, but I might change that (to a lower number) depending on if the movie stays with me or simply fades away in my memory. It was a good try, with some beautiful shots and great moments, but really.... not thát special, and definitely overrated.

From the director of "Nueve Reinas", here it comes his new piece of work you won't forget.

As soon as it begins, you will applaud every Darin's gesture, while you get immersed in the plot as you follow a shy epileptic taxidermist who dreams about a perfect theft, and all of the sudden gets the chance to make his dream come true. Don't let your aura put you aside the screen, you could miss valuable details as the action moves on. Take a deep breath, sit at the edge of your seat, and let Bielinsky do his job.

A perfect script, superb acting, and wonderful Argentine landscapes make this movie a "must see" for everyone.