Aurora [Import]

I first saw this film during a festival of romanian films, in Stockholm. This one really made me see that there is a new wave of great cinems coming from Romania, and to me, Aurora is the best example of what is happening in Romania, as far as the developement as cinema is concerned. I was completely haunted, watching this film at the movies, not really understanding where this story would leave me, and meanwhile feeling as if I was really getting a feeling what it is to be living in this part of the world, and in the city of Bukarest. The story is so moving, and deeply disturbing, AND quite entertainig, as it takes you on its quite unexpected journey, of which I will tell NOTHING - go find out! You won't regret a single moment of taking part of this heartbreaking story, I assure you!

After having watched, what I considered, long-winded, never-ending three hour films like "The Lord of the Ring", "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", "The Constant Gardener" and "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", I promised myself I'd never watch movies this long again (although I did like Titanic, even though I'm not a fan of historical, romantic fiction). However, I decided to risk it one more time with this Romanian, three hour long film.

As usual in some Eastern European and Scandinavian films, Aurora features a lot of scenes with little or no dialogue at all and long winded scenes about every day life that don't add much to the plot. However, for some reason, I spent the entire film interested and intrigued by trying to figure out what it was about. The lack of musical score also added up to the feeling of angst and uncertainty. Roughly every half an hour, something happened and caught my attention and kept me wondering until the very end.

Neverthless, my problem with this bleak film is its ending. I wish it had been more shocking and not so "now let's explain what this is all about." This is a film that either you love it or detest it, and while I'm one of those who loved it, I am a bit disappointed for the unimaginative ending.

This is an intelligent, thought-provoking movie. I kept guessing what would happen next and had to focus on all small details. The film was a high-class detective story and I did not even realize I had been in the cinema for three hours. I'll check his other film for sure.