An apartment kitchen: a man and a woman discuss Little Red Riding Hood, their voices hushed, mindful of waking the little girl sleeping next room. Read more …
Waste land on the city outskirts: behind a line of abandoned trailers, the man silently watches what seems to be a family. The same city, the same man: driving through traffic with two hand-made firing pins for a hunting rifle. The man is 42 years old, his name - Viorel. Troubled by obscure thoughts, he drives across the city to a destination known only to him.
Save some strength to crawl out of the cinema.
It’s an intellectual wheeze, but too chilly to connect.
Aurora clocks in at just over three hours, absorbing in its methodical way while giving no clue to justify its weird glacial movement.
This does not have the humanity and accessibility of The Death of Mr Lazarescu, but it certainly has a dark, lowering presence on the screen.
At three hours long and deliberately paced throughout, this edgy drama return by Cristi Puiu demands patience. Its chilly mood and taut psychological explorations again mark out The Death of Mr. Lazarescu director as a key filmmaker of the Romanian new wave.
This is a less satisfying work that Mr Lazarescu; it’s just too evasive, too exacting in the level of patience it demands. But it does reward close attention - and its final act comes very close to being worth one of cinema’s more epic waits.
Best to keep distractions to a minimum for this one. See it in the cinema if you can.
It's more disturbing than shocking, and both depressing and compressing in the way it uses long takes to confine us in constricting domestic and official spaces that make us observe events through a succession of doors.
General release. Check local listings for show times.