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The Aura
The Aura (2005) is an Argentine, French and Spanish neo-noir drama film, directed by Fabian Bielinsky, his second and final feature after Nine Queens. The picture features Ricardo Darin in the lead role, as well as Alejandro Awada, Dolores Fonzi, among others.
The drama was the Argentine entry in the 2006 Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film category.
Plot
In neo-noir fashion El Aura narrates in the first person the hallucinating voyage of Espinoza, a quiet, cynical taxidermist, who suffers epilepsy attacks, and is obsessed with committing the perfect crime.
He claims that the cops are too stupid to find out about it when it's well executed, and that the robbers are too stupid to execute it the right way; and that he could do it himself relying on his photographic memory and his strategic planning skills.
On his first ever hunting trip, in the calm of the Patagonian forest, with one squeeze of the trigger his dreams are made real. Espinoza has accidentally killed a man who turns out to be a real criminal and he inherits his scheme: the heist of an armored truck carrying casino profits.
Moved by morbid curiosity, and later by an inexorable flow of events, the taxidermist sees himself thrown into his fantasies, piece by piece completing a puzzle irremediably encircling him. And he does it while struggling with his greatest weakness: epilepsy. Before each seizure he is visited by the "aura": a paradoxical moment of confusion and enlightenment where the past and future seem to blend.
Cast
Ricardo Darin as Esteban Espinosa, the taxidermist
Dolores Fonzi as Diana Dietrich
Pablo Cedron as Sosa
Nahuel Perez Biscayart as Julio
Jorge D'Elia as Urien
Alejandro Awada as Sontag
Rafael Castejon as Vega
Manuel Rodal as Carlos Dietrich
Walter Reyno as Montero
Distribution
The film opened wide in Argentina on September 15, 2005. Later in the month it was presented at the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival on September 30, 2005.
The picture was screened at various film festivals, including: the Sundance Film Festival, United States; the Toulouse Latin America Film Festival, France; the Alba Regia International Film Festival, Hungary; the Transilvania International Film Festival, Romania; the Film by the Sea Film Festival, Netherlands; the Helsinki International Film Festival, Finland; and others.
Critical reception
Critic A.O. Scott, who writes for The New York Times, liked the way how director Fabian Bielinsky used the neo-noir style, writing, "Mr. Bielinsky made use of a familiar film noir vocabulary, but not for the usual young-fimmaker-in-a-hurry purpose of showing off his facility with genre tricks. Rather, his movies restore some of the clammy, anxious atmosphere that made the old noirs so powerful to begin with." He also mentions the early death of director Bielinsky. He said, "For his part, Mr. Bielinsky, in what would sadly be his last film, demonstrates a mastery of the form that is downright scary." Scott, A.O. The New York Times, film review, "An Argentine Director's Unsettling Oeuvre," November 17, 2006.
Film critic Jonathan Holland, film critic for Variety magazine, liked the film and wrote, "An engrossing existential thriller from Fabien Bielinsky...Leisurely paced, studied, reticent and rural, The Aura is a quieter, richer and better-looking piece that handles its multiple manipulations with the maturity the earlier pic sometimes lacked...Featuring a career-best perf from Ricardo Darin, pic is a must-see in territories that warmed to Queens, while its superior production values could generate even bigger returns from international arthouse auds who enjoy their thrillers with a touch of distinction." Holland, Joanathan. Variety, film review, September 19, 2005. Last accessed: February 17, 2008.
Film critic David Wiegand thought that director Bielinsky tackled a bit too much in this film and wrote, "Bielinsky's latest film, The Aura, is in some ways more ambitious, which may be one of the reasons it doesn't work as well as it should...the careful camera work, beautifully dank cinematography and the quietly nuanced performance by Darin keep our attention, but in the end, the film's bigger challenge isn't its length, or its deliberate pace: It's that it's overly freighted with symbolism and meaning." Wiegand, David. The San Francisco Chronicle film review, page E-6, January 5, 2007.
Currently, the film has a 89% "Fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes, based on thirty-six reviews. El Aura at Rotten Tomatoes. Last accessed: March 8, 2007.
Awards
Wins
Cartagena Film Festival, Colombia: Golden India Catalina; Best Director, Fabian Bielinsky; 2005.
Clarin Awards: Clarin Award, Best Cinematography, Checco Varese; 2005.
Havana Film Festival: FIPRESCI Prize, Best Film, Fabian Bielinsky; 2005.
Argentine Film Critics Association Awards: Silver Condor; Best Actor, Ricardo Darin; Best Cinematography, Checco Varese; Best Director, Fabian Bielinsky; Best Film; Best Original Screenplay, Fabian Bielinsky; Best Sound, Carlos Abbate and Jose Luis Diaz; 2006.
Nominations
San Sebastian International Film Festival: Golden Seashell, Fabian Bielinsky; 2005.
Argentine Film Critics Association Awards: Silver Condor, Best Art Direction, Mercedes Alfonsin; Best Editing, Alejandro Carrillo Penovi and Fernando Pardo; Best Music, Lucio Godoy; Best Supporting Actor, Pablo Cedron; 2006.
External links
El Aura at the cinenacional.com .
El Aura film review at La Nacion by Diego Batlle .
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article The Aura
