The Aura (2005)

What Might Have Been

I wish we could have had a dozen films or more from director Fabian Bielinsky, but because he died of a heart attack in 2006 at only 46, we have only Nine Queens and The Aura. Ricardo Darin, a veteran Argentine actor, worked in both (so did several others in the cast, I think) and he is superb here as Espinosa, a reclusive, fairly unlikeable taxidermist who has long plotted in his mind the perfect heist. Circumstances give him the chance to make his plots real in the forests and open spaces of Patagonia. He is both drawn to and repelled by the opportunity. He also finds himself less perfect in the execution than in the fantasy. What results is a character study -- as my wife commented, you don't ever really like Espinosa, but you always want him to succeed -- and intricately paced and plotted heist movie. The sometimes beautiful and sometimes desolate setting, the camera work, the acting -- almost every character is trapped in some desperate personal situation -- and Bielinsky's command come together for a unnerving and riveting movie that feels much shorter than its running time of over two hours. Don't miss it. May 21, 2008

Somewhat disappointing follow up to Nine Queens

After Nine Queens, a good but perhaps somewhat overrated thriller involving con games related to some rare stamps, director Fabian Bielinski followed up with The Aura. The film involves an epileptic taxidermist (?), played by Ricardo Darin (a famous Argentine actor, who also starred in Nine Queens) who, by some improbable chances and coincidences, gets involved with a gang in a casino heist in the picturesque Patagonian Andes of Southern Argentina. The plot is not very believable: Bielinski's sources for his films are not real life, but genre films filtered through some heavy and dubious philosophizing. This is not bad in itself; directors like Fuller, Melville and John Woo made some fine films out of pulp material, but Bielinski, who died of a heart attack soon after Aura was released in Argentina, was unfortunately not on their league. His two films show him as a competent genre filmmaker, but neither of those rise up to what can be considered a great film, in my opinion. January 24, 2008

Just Watch the Fuse Burn

This is just flat out one of the smartest contemporary heist films I've seen -- Darin is completely believable and the editing is sublime. Really, how many times do you hear someone talk about a film's skillful editing? Don't get me wrong, it's subtle and takes meticiulous care in building, so don't expect anything like The French Connection, but if you're patient enough to watch the fuse burn then the fireworks will ignite in your head. (9/10) November 1, 2007

Poor Non-amorphic presentation.

I won't repeat what others have written about the movie or what you can read on imdb. I just wanted to warn people that the US dvd of this is terible. The movie is a widescreen movie presented in full frame format such that more than half your tv screen will be taken up by windowboxing. The image is so small that you can't read the credits & if you're hard of seeing you might want binoculars to read the subtitles, half of which cover the image and half in the windowboxing (with so much windowboxing, the least they could have done was to put all the subtitles in the black border.) This is inexcusable for a 2007 release & a good reason why you should own a multi-region player...to buy an import version that is anamorphic. September 9, 2007

If A Crime Happens in the Forest...

For an epileptic, robbing banks, casinos, and armored cars poses some unique challenges.
Esteban is a mild mannered taxidermist, prone to grand mal seizures. Right before a seizure he experiences auras, which he eloquently describes as a moment in time when he knows something [a seizure] is going to happen, and has absolutely no control over it.

Esteban spends his days fantasizing about committing the perfect heist, while quietly selecting glass eyes for his customer's recent trophy kills. He has the perfect job for daydreaming about an elegant crime where everything goes as planned, and no one gets hurt. Clearly it's been a while since Esteban rented `Reservoir Dogs'.

Set in the woods outside Buenos Aires, `The Aura' is a well-timed, crime thriller. It has all the elements of an urban genre: a down-on-his-luck protagonist, a mysterious woman, and some really, really, bad guys.

Although he is not a hunter, Esteban begrudgingly agrees to take a hunting trip with his buddy. An overbooked hotel manager recommends a nearby rustic hunting lodge run by a husband and wife. Deep in the woods, and angered by his friend's chiding, he decides to shoot a deer. This single action brings reality to Esteban's dream, as he fits himself into the planning and execution of an armored car robbery.

Much like a seizure, once his plan is set in motion, it roars out of control, with violent and unique consequences. Starring Ricardo Darin as Esteban. Darin also played the arrogant con man in `Nine Queens', which was later remade in the US as `The Criminal' starring John C. Riley.
`The Aura' is in Spanish with English subtitles.
September 8, 2007

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