Featured Audience Ratings

• Arash X

  
  After the dissapointing Nueve Reinas, Bielinsky makes a great film, Interesting & engaging with a bleak & overcast atmosphere

• Luke B

  
  El Aura is a wonderfully deep and thoughtful crime film. The bleached look make it a dark and dreary world, but one that doesn't exclude viewers. It's not Wham-Bam action, but when it does kick off the violence is more affective than the majority of crime dramas. Darin is a… More
  El Aura is a wonderfully deep and thoughtful crime film. The bleached look make it a dark and dreary world, but one that doesn't exclude viewers. It's not Wham-Bam action, but when it does kick off the violence is more affective than the majority of crime dramas. Darin is a wonderful actor that doesn't feel the need to "sing for his supper". He lets you interpret his thoughts. The extremely silent moments, where he bonds with the dog simply with subtle glances, are great moments. As he plays a taxidermist, the relationship is laced with ironic warmth. The film has many Malick esque moments of quiet reflection, using the landscape and simple gestures to convey much more. Drags a bit in the 3rd quarter as it attempts to build a few too many relationships.

• Drew S

  
  The best part about The Aura is its tone. It is an entirely overcast movie, perpetually threatened by the possibility of rain (on which it never delivers). It seems an appropriate atmosphere for this grim, sad tale of a man who doesn't have much to live for but his heist… More
  The best part about The Aura is its tone. It is an entirely overcast movie, perpetually threatened by the possibility of rain (on which it never delivers). It seems an appropriate atmosphere for this grim, sad tale of a man who doesn't have much to live for but his heist fantasies. That same tone, so meticulously crafted and presented, grows almost overbearing at times. The Aura is markedly one-note in its presentation, but it doesn't suffer blatantly for it. It's just that seeing the same grey-green forests and forlorn faces over and over again grows exhausting by the time you've slogged through this two-hour journey. But for all its heaviness, I didn't really find The Aura hard to watch. Its plot is very simple, which is refreshing; an unadorned plot can do far more in almost any situation than something extremely complex. The Aura, with its bare bones plot and emphasis on tone and character, is quite like a one-man Heaven. It concerns an epileptic taxidermist who dreams about committing a heist and just so happens to stumble into one; in movie tradition, however, things rarely go as planned. The Aura is thematically complex. There's a lot of allegories and motifs buried in the film, such as the treatment of women, the wolf, fantasy versus reality, and the illusion of control. To find such literate writing in a thriller movie is very refreshing. Expounding on these themes is Ricardo Darin, giving a strong performance as the taxidermist. It's a difficult role to pull off given the character's (and movie's) lack of expression, but Darin keeps things interesting. A wistful footnote to end Fabian Bielinsky's career, The Aura is something vital and intelligent. While it may bore some people, there's merit to be found in what it does for its genre and performers.

• Pierluigi P

  
  Second and sadly last film by Fabián Bielinsky. a compelling thriller with a great performance by Ricardo Darín, as an epileptic and diffident taxidermist with a strange urge for elaborated heists.

• Ross C

  
  At the EIFF 2006 I was expecting more from Fabian's second (and last) movie following his fantastic debut with "Nine Queens". This movie was very average, slow, boring and lacking humour.

• Walter M

  
  [font=Century Gothic]In "The Aura," the taxidermist(Ricardo Darin) is an epileptic who is great with details and has a photographic memory.(I can only imagine how that combination might have made life nightmarish for him growing up.) While on line at banks, he likes to tell… More
  [font=Century Gothic]In "The Aura," the taxidermist(Ricardo Darin) is an epileptic who is great with details and has a photographic memory.(I can only imagine how that combination might have made life nightmarish for him growing up.) While on line at banks, he likes to tell his colleague, Sontag(Alejandro Awada), how they could be robbed but never acts on his plans. Sontag has a friend cancel on a hunting trip, so he invites the other man along. Due to a closing casino, there is no room at the inn, so they rent a cabin at a remote location, managed by Diana(Dolores Fonzi), while her much older husband is out hunting...[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]...at that point in the movie, I was sure it would go in a certain direction, as had other movies of a similar genre. I was wrong. "The Aura" is an unpredictable movie that defies expectation while haunting the viewer after it is over. The taxidermist has the perfect set of skills for his profession,(I thought he might also make a great accountant. Oh well...) but cannot see beneath the skin to understand human beings.(He is especially surprised at Sontag's returning to his wife's bedside.) In the end, he has no experience with life, just death. [/font]

• John B

  
  Once in awhile, you see an example of the best film of a particular country and it really makes you wonder what you are missing. This was my first Argentinian film and it was really something! A treasure.

• William G

  
  Compelling drama from a director taken too soon.

• matt s

  
  Beautiful looking yet slow film about an epileptic man who, after killing the owner of an outhouse, puts himself in that guy's situations. I like this movie, but I don't know if the conclusion fits. After all that time watching this man go through what he went through, it… More
  Beautiful looking yet slow film about an epileptic man who, after killing the owner of an outhouse, puts himself in that guy's situations. I like this movie, but I don't know if the conclusion fits. After all that time watching this man go through what he went through, it kinda ends without a big, note or any type of note. But I liked the pacing and feel of this movie.

• John M

  
  From the director of "Nueve Reinas", here it comes a different movie. Slow pace movie but still very good. Clever plot, excellent direction, perfect script, superb acting, and wonderful cinematography with Argentina's landscapes.

• Stefan P

  
  Compared with a David Lynch-movie this one has about half as good atmosphere which is very good. Many scenes includes long moments of silence which makes it pleasant, poetic and completely different from the ordinary Hollowoord-flick where everything are spelled out in big letters.… More
  Compared with a David Lynch-movie this one has about half as good atmosphere which is very good. Many scenes includes long moments of silence which makes it pleasant, poetic and completely different from the ordinary Hollowoord-flick where everything are spelled out in big letters. Further on - great acting, intriguing story and wonderful ending. Now I made a promise that I should watch more movies from Fabián Bielinsky.

• Janice :

  
  I had high standards for this film, and honestly I was extremely deceived! It's okay, but pointless. There are some nice scenes in the movie where everything seems so calm and poetic, but otherwise I felt like I was wasting precious hours of my existence.

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