If you are familiar with Puiu's previous film, Death of Mr. Lazarescu, you will be well-prepared for the slow pace that draws attention to the nonchalant, almost cold and disconnected sensibility of the ex-Eastern Bloc. What you will find extremely different in Aurora is the lack of words in many long scenes. Conversations are sparse, accentuated with grunts or untranslatable sounds. The main character seems to walk around like a ghost, one that everyone can see and can, if they were so inclined, interact with, but also one that nobody seems too interested in or concerned with. Of course, we know that there must be a reason why we are following this seemingly aimless character, and we are peeved at the very beginning by his paranoid over-the-shoulder glances and slow scenes where he seems to be watching a family. About an hour into the film, we know he is up to no good, though still nothing really is explained. We do not really know who most of the people are in his life, and why he is doing what he is doing. The violence also remains unexplained. In the last half hour of the film his actions are finally explained. This time the indifference and Soviet sensibility, the lack of intelligent conversation, the attitudes of the resigned members of the bureaucratic wheel all help to create a highly absurd and funny "confession" scene. Without the last scene, the film would get a 5 from me. It gets a 7 for capturing the sensibility of a whole people, a whole way of reacting to life, so perfectly. It also manages to unravel the complexity of adult lives without ever explaining anything. It would have gotten an 8 or 9, if it was edited tighter, especially the first 2 hours. It was great that things were not explained, but the slow pace could have been helped a bit without losing from meaning.
12 Reviews
There's a land called 'Passiva Aggressiva' and Cristi Puiu is its king
andreea-gintaru22 January 2012
Warning: Spoilers
http://slnks.com/0xz
preview: But seriously, 'Aurora' has been the first movie I watched this year, a story set in gloomy, contemporary Bucharest – a slice of life, if you may call it that way – where a divorced man follows his ex-wife through town with the not - so - obvious intention of killing her. The movie is long – three hours long – and as some interesting critics who haven't even had the decency to watch an entire movie before reviewing it say – pretty boring. But instead of boring I would like to call it slow paced, aerated, leaving just enough room for the characters to develop and for the viewer to get accustomed to their lifestyle. I think it was actually polite – yes, I'll use this word – that the director took the time he thought he needed in describing the characters (mostly the main character, played by the director himself) and the situations created by the relationships the characters are in.
preview: But seriously, 'Aurora' has been the first movie I watched this year, a story set in gloomy, contemporary Bucharest – a slice of life, if you may call it that way – where a divorced man follows his ex-wife through town with the not - so - obvious intention of killing her. The movie is long – three hours long – and as some interesting critics who haven't even had the decency to watch an entire movie before reviewing it say – pretty boring. But instead of boring I would like to call it slow paced, aerated, leaving just enough room for the characters to develop and for the viewer to get accustomed to their lifestyle. I think it was actually polite – yes, I'll use this word – that the director took the time he thought he needed in describing the characters (mostly the main character, played by the director himself) and the situations created by the relationships the characters are in.
Murder as an Existential Cry
stephen-62421 May 2020
I was amazed to find this one on Netflix, got thru three hours OK. Puiu himself as the bitter divorcee Viorel does a fine turn, consistently sour-faced, obnoxious, and aggressive with everyone he has to deal with.
I wouldn't over-react to the washed-out winter grime of Romania, "minus 11 in the capital". It's more of a backdrop than a critique. Puiu is interested in the moods of the scenes and angles, as our disturbed non-hero angles across rail lines, city streets, suburban alleys, and apartment corridors.
The end stage, where Viorel explains too much to the viewer, but also barely explains anything, is fun. And not inconsistent with how we humans are.
I wouldn't over-react to the washed-out winter grime of Romania, "minus 11 in the capital". It's more of a backdrop than a critique. Puiu is interested in the moods of the scenes and angles, as our disturbed non-hero angles across rail lines, city streets, suburban alleys, and apartment corridors.
The end stage, where Viorel explains too much to the viewer, but also barely explains anything, is fun. And not inconsistent with how we humans are.
heavy, but refined movie
v_pop27 July 2011
Warning: Spoilers
Heavy movie, especially watching it now, after the Norwegian massacre.. But definitely worth seeing, makes you think about all those annoying people in your life that you wished you'd never come across (or dead). His character goes a bit further than that.. actually takes the gun and shoots them. And somehow you empathise with him, you find those people around him terribly vulgar and intrusive, shameless. It's strange how lonely the character is in his sense of respect and dignity ("bun simt" in Romanian) - but to anyone who has been in an absurd Romanian situation - police, administration, school, hospital - knows how lonely you can feel when nobody else except you realises or cares about how ridiculous that situation is.. Chapeau bas for Puiu stepping in those shoes and playing the main part. I would have given him a 10 - definitely for the script and acting - but found the camera work a little disappointing, a lot of shaking and bad shots. Also found the naked shower scene completely unnecessary.
This is a gloomy movie. It's cold, it's long, it's at times frustrating.
Filip_Pruncu29 October 2020
This is a gloomy movie. It's cold, it's long, it's at times frustrating. And I think that's the idea of it. That's what Puiu wanted to put into it. These cold, long, frustrating feelings, the weird conversations and character. It's like some russian novel. I liked the idea, I liked Puiu's interpretation for this odd character, I liked the mood. Yes, maybe instead of making it a 3 hour long movie, it would've been better if it was set to only two hours. But nevertheless, it's a different kind of movie.
All in all, not bad. 7 out of 10, though at first I was thinking about a 6.
An epic - meant only for very patient viewers with interest in absurdist literature.
vikezy-198223 August 2020
This reminded me of Albert Camus's "The Stranger"
movie is filled with long shots....absence of words for most parts.....
The Police: "Why did you kill them ?" Protagonist: "I realize what I am saying has no equivalent. But, since I suppose you'll have statements and reports to fill in, I'll try to be as precise as possible...... .....I didn't get divorced because I wanted to. And getting divorced isn't just breaking up with one person. I couldn't leave things like that... .... I don't know what you think but I believe that the Justice system cannot comprehend the level of complexity of the relationship I had with my wife..."
The Police: "Why did you kill them ?" Protagonist: "I realize what I am saying has no equivalent. But, since I suppose you'll have statements and reports to fill in, I'll try to be as precise as possible...... .....I didn't get divorced because I wanted to. And getting divorced isn't just breaking up with one person. I couldn't leave things like that... .... I don't know what you think but I believe that the Justice system cannot comprehend the level of complexity of the relationship I had with my wife..."
Terminal boredom
JohnSeal1 May 2011
Warning: Spoilers
Are you fascinated by static shots of the ceiling? Do scenes in which potato peeling is the primary activity or scenes in which men discuss the cost of household repairs float your boat? If so, you will be in ecstasy over Cristi Puiu's new film, Aurora (or I as prefer to think of it, Andy Warhol's Aurora), a three-hour meditation on the life of an affectless, gun-toting loser (portrayed by the director) meandering through the streets of Bucharest.
Even for those who admired Puiu's Death of Mr. Lazarescu (and I count myself among them), Aurora will be a challenge: clocking it at almost three hours, the film eschews plot development in favor of plod development. As Puiu plods from one point to another in the Romanian capital, however, you'll probably be plotting an early escape route.
Even for those who admired Puiu's Death of Mr. Lazarescu (and I count myself among them), Aurora will be a challenge: clocking it at almost three hours, the film eschews plot development in favor of plod development. As Puiu plods from one point to another in the Romanian capital, however, you'll probably be plotting an early escape route.
The reviewer that wrote the "dumbest film ever" fits his title...
robert-armon12 December 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Puiu made an interesting movie about the Romanian people and Romanian atmosphere ! Indeed, you have to be born there in order to understand this movie, but not necessary if you are an intelligent person!
The only drawback that I found with this movie the too long scenes. that sometimes made me to look how much is left to the end !!! However, the discomfort that one feels along the movie, is exactly what I felt and I think that this was the goal of the director (playing the main character)...Everything is dark and escorted by a refurbishing apartment takes, it makes a person to shoot someone that you are not happy with.
The best scene is the last one, when Viorel the main character hands himself over to police officers, even somehow surrealistic !
It is not an easy film, but worth watching, however not when you are very upset !!!
The dumbest film ever
Ana_Banana5 December 2011
It's plain crap, but it's long (3 hours!). The emperor has no clothes on, folks! Never mind the pretentious 'artsy' and dark filming, the awkward and long shots, the unexplained, unmotivated and undeveloped characters, and the other (very good) film by Mr. Puiu ('The Death Of Mr. Lazarescu'). This one is just a nightmarish vision of a dull life with apparently no events and no insight. At times it seems almost fantastic, and maybe that would have saved a bit this story if it explored the fantastic vein more. But no, it's just a mundane and boring hell, the fashionable (and limited) way of the intelligentsia to look at today's Romania (you know it even from the news: garbage, stray dogs, sloppy people). If Travis Bickle really had no life and if Mr. Scorsese had no brain, the result would be 'Aurora'. What a waste...
Beautiful...
iulian-0287326 October 2020
Ugly cinema for pretentious lovers of ugliness on screen
intrevulve7 April 2024
Warning: Spoilers
In "Aurora", the plot is basically: patient can't get Xanax so he gets a gun :) Thus, a failure of capitalism in Romania. (It was the early years)
In a pathetic replica of "Falling Down", Puiu's no Michael Douglas and the entire action was already summarized by another reviewer: potato peeling, domestic talk about whether Little Red Riding Hood's granny comes out naked from the wolf's belly, plus some close encounters of the third kind of male protagonist with female personnel of various businesses, lastly the shootings. This is not a Romanian "Taxi driver" and Puiu is no Fassbender in the shower either. Last one shoots people as professional hitman in his last film (I recommend that one instead, as it's just as long but more entertaining and poetic). Also, the police station doesn't look like those in the developed West and the sound quality is on par with the social interactions in the gloomy Bucharest ante-EU. Not that there was any whatsoever need for quality in sound. Or image.
Puiu's character is a twisted personality, one who wants rules bended and exceptions, just not for the people he kills and not when he "has to turn in" and to let the police do their job. A "justification" for his behaviour might be his sickness and the implied short life expectancy. The worldview of this maniac who has a college degree as an engineer and his living space chokeful of books but shares talibanic and orthodox mindset that wives can't ever divorce, is baffling and a source of absurd in itself.
This main character is neither a hero nor an antihero and this was neither a movie nor a lack of one.
It's sad this is all Romanian cinema has to come up with. Romanian cinema is dead. RIP. Previously, it was the case that the sound was poor, yet the films were great. Nowadays poor are both the sound and whatever lines their characters say. I am aware I may sound harsh and unjustified in my critique, after all it's a movie released 14 years ago. That's time even for police stations to modernise, Bucharester colon to live stress-free or at least a more streamlined acquisition of xanax and interpersonal speech. There's hope.
In a pathetic replica of "Falling Down", Puiu's no Michael Douglas and the entire action was already summarized by another reviewer: potato peeling, domestic talk about whether Little Red Riding Hood's granny comes out naked from the wolf's belly, plus some close encounters of the third kind of male protagonist with female personnel of various businesses, lastly the shootings. This is not a Romanian "Taxi driver" and Puiu is no Fassbender in the shower either. Last one shoots people as professional hitman in his last film (I recommend that one instead, as it's just as long but more entertaining and poetic). Also, the police station doesn't look like those in the developed West and the sound quality is on par with the social interactions in the gloomy Bucharest ante-EU. Not that there was any whatsoever need for quality in sound. Or image.
Puiu's character is a twisted personality, one who wants rules bended and exceptions, just not for the people he kills and not when he "has to turn in" and to let the police do their job. A "justification" for his behaviour might be his sickness and the implied short life expectancy. The worldview of this maniac who has a college degree as an engineer and his living space chokeful of books but shares talibanic and orthodox mindset that wives can't ever divorce, is baffling and a source of absurd in itself.
This main character is neither a hero nor an antihero and this was neither a movie nor a lack of one.
It's sad this is all Romanian cinema has to come up with. Romanian cinema is dead. RIP. Previously, it was the case that the sound was poor, yet the films were great. Nowadays poor are both the sound and whatever lines their characters say. I am aware I may sound harsh and unjustified in my critique, after all it's a movie released 14 years ago. That's time even for police stations to modernise, Bucharester colon to live stress-free or at least a more streamlined acquisition of xanax and interpersonal speech. There's hope.
Difficult to watch, but recommended.
trailaalexandru9 November 2021
A film too long, (Cristi Puiu does not compromise on conventions about time when there is something to say) gloomy, dark, DIFFICULT to watch, with polite dialogues, but with an aggressive background, the daily routine is rendered naturally (naturalness is at odds ). Maxims), The eyes and gestures of the criminal speak beyond words, being basically shy and cowardly. (on earth idiots have guns - John Lenon) I guess it's called "Aurora" for that the main character, surrendering when he could not be caught, foresees the light that will come in his life after the night in its astral splendor, (oscillating between suicide and penance) after the confession / confession, from the police station. Sorry for google translate.
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