Jenna Walter
The film may be flawed, but its message is not.
Ariella Broughton
It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.
Geraldine
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
Claudio Carvalho
In Buenos Aires, the epileptic taxidermist Esteban Espinosa (Ricardo Darín) is a painstaking man that likes to plot the perfect heist. When his wife leaves him, he accepts the invitation of his friend Sontag (Alejandro Awada) to hunt in a forest. They rent a cabin owned by Diana Dietrich (Dolores Fonzi) and her husband Carlos Dietrich (Manuel Rodal) but soon they have an argument and Sontag returns to Buenos Aires. Esteban stays alone and while hunting a deer, he accidentally kills Dietrich near a shed. Esteban opens the shed and finds a plan for the heist of an armored truck. When he returns to the cabin, he stumbles with the criminals Sosa (Pablo Cedrón) and Montero (Walter Reyno) that are seeking out Dietrich. Now Esteban has the chance to execute the perfect crime he has dreamt on. "El Aura" is a weird and original film with an intriguing story, beautiful cinematography and environment and good acting. Unfortunately there are unnecessary details, such as why Esteban is epileptic since it does not affect the story. The conclusion is also disappointing with Esteban's fantasy coming true but he just returning to his routine life. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Aura"
movies-by-db
Esteban, Ricardo Darin, is a quiet normal guy with a normal life. He is meticulous in his work as a taxidermist but fantasizes about doing more exiting things with his life and intellect. While on a hunting trip with a friend, opportunity accidentally comes knocking and partially unbewilling he takes on a role more dangerous then he would have ever wanted or dreamed of.We, the viewer, take the plunge together with Esteban. His intelligence and especially his photographic memory help him to fill in a lot of the gaps, but of course we know from the start that he's in over his head. Still, we keep guessing, we keep getting snippets and clues of what's going on and where it's all going. It's film noir in it's purest form, a stunning, gripping mystery laden with suspense and dread. Everything happening at a snails pace but as Esteban slowly loses grip on the situation, the story grips the viewer tighter and tighter.Ricardo Darin is perfect as the naive Esteban. The man is magnetic and completely effortless. I love everything I've seen with him, but this is most definitely my favourite performance.A real big shame to loose such a talented director.'Nueve Reinas' was a great film and a huge promise, but man did it come true with this film. What other masterpieces could he have made. Made me a little sad whilst watching. These are the types of films I personally absolutely love. Sober, slow burning yet extremely watchable. Not nearly this good, but thematically similar and also pretty recent and from Argentina is 'Todos Tenemos Un Plan'. And another film this also reminded me of was 'Intacto' but then purely the mystery factor, and maybe some of the settings.Highly recommended masterpiece 10/10
NICO
The Aura is a very interesting and engaging movie filled with mystery and suspense. The story is complex and well thought out, while at the same time containing characters that are peculiar and entertaining. The main character Esteban Espinosa for instance, is a serious man who suffers from epilepsy, therefore giving off the impression that he could pass out and freeze at any moment. The director of the film cleverly uses foreshadowing and irony in order to add some literary value to the production. By Esteban having thoughts of robbing a volt at the beginning of the film, the director establishes a foreshadowing of events to come. Moreover, the appearance of blood on a dog's snout also serves as a foreshadowing for future events involving blood. Finally, the use of irony is seen in the person of Esteban, who is against killing animals, but ends up killing a man instead.
redraddar
A visitor to the woodsman's lodge says the woodsman isn't returning. but he knows he has discovered the well drawn out plan in the Woodsman's private cabin and due to a picture perfect memory good enough info to keep the original planned heist going. The Casino has customers showing up for the last of the Casino Days, a planned armored car pick up, and and an air of desperation is thick. Main Character has epilepsy fits that allow him to recharge his mind and body so reality/priorities have new meaning. The Malady gives him a lifeline in the scattered sequence of events unfolding during this last weekend armored car heist. To his priorities and his not being in control. (English Subtitle)
