swapnils-19074 Yet another masterpiece by Ricardo Dari. Movie is about an epileptic taxidermist who goes with his friend on a hunting trip. He has always fantasized about committing a perfectly planned heist. Fate gives him a chance to execute one when he goes on a hunting trip. Once at the hunting grounds they are forced to stay in a isolated mansion with some very strange people. What follows is a turn of events that almost has him killed. Ricardo, as usual presents the character with absolute perfection....one of my personal favorites is the part where he is about to get an epileptic attack and he "surrenders" to it. The way he acts is something only Ricardo can perform. The end is somewhat disappointing though. But nevertheless this movie is something worth spending time on.

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

David Traversa As a movie, it's very well done, and yes, maybe unnecessarily a bit too slow, and I don't care how good an actor can be, when you fix a camera on his face, full close-up for whole minutes at a time and hope for the spectator to guess what this silent face is thinking... is asking for too much.The background music is exceptional. All the characters in this movie are DREADFUL PEOPLE and I at least am sick and tired of dreadful characters. Why is it more interesting to follow the life of these kind of rats of the underworld when there is a brighter side to it? The scum of humanity. What else can you call people that take pleasure from shooting vulnerable animals with long distance rifles for the sake of it??"Life's a pain anyway" said once Greta Garbo to Laurence Olivier. Fine! but then don't make it more painful by making this kind of extremely depressing movies please!This film ends like Shakespeare's "Titus Andronicus"!!! Even if I share Greta's point of view, for X's sake... give me a bit of color to make it through the day!!!As most other reviewers I appreciate all the good qualities on this production, truly remarkable, especially because compared with a Hollywood production it has been made with peanuts, and that alone takes a lot of credit!!! An interesting turnabout on the main character is his building up a stronger self with his reaction towards the nastiness commanding the action of bullies but that seems to be the only positive lesson, although he accomplished it with extreme violence. I found incompatible his "I don't kill animals" with being a taxidermist. Although his action at the end of the movie shows us that maybe, after all, he did mind it killing animals.

Cihan "Sean Victorydawn" Vercan (CihanVercan) Ricardo Darin's Espinosa portrait is just like my reflection in the mirror. I found myself in it. Fabian Bielinsky's 3rd directing and 5th screenplay experience happened to be his last step of his career. With El Aura, he carries us away into the world of a misunderstood desolate man. For most films, people don't like reading a review or collecting detailed information before actually seeing the film. But if the film you're approaching is a mystery and cannot be understood easily in the first view, you should get some clue of it before watching. Anyhow, El Aura is one of them. Esteban Espinosa earns his life with taxidermy, filling up animal hides of wild-life. He is a naturalist and jack of all trades, has a strong memory and is very observant. One day waiting at a queue at the bank, he shares his most marvellous dream -to rob a bank- with his friend; while he is being offered to accompany his friend for shoot day out in the forest. On a Monday, they settle into a motel in the forest, where they weren't hosted well enough and were questioned if they are local; putting them on the jitters. With this bad mood, they start arguing while hunting for deers. After his friend insulted him and left him alone; he gets caught into a major epilepsy fit for a moment and falls in a faint. When he wakes up he is unconscious; and while aiming to shoot a deer, he suddenly turns his rifle to an old man walking in the forest and shoots him. Gaining back his conscious, he goes near to the man he shot; whose cell-phone starts to ring. Espinosa takes his cellphone and his i.d. ; then hides the corpse in a pit. To avoid the trouble he fell into, he remains calm and turns back to motel to stay there longer than planned. His friend goes back to the city, then he starts stepping towards his mysterious journey; when he finds out that the man he killed is the owner of the motel. The screenplay segments work completely perfect: Plot is very well built, script is written professionally in a plain format, story developing at its best, character developing is well crafted, and the main theme is so wisely gives multiple messages and views. Everything we see, we hear, we witness are elements of a complete mystery. This film needs to be seen very carefully. Flashback sequences will be refreshing our memory of the earlier scenes where it's completely necessary. Also it's clearly to see that the editing and the full post-production job with music and sound effects are best fit. I find it essential to analyze Esteban Espinosa's characterization work. There are 4 basic factors that differentiates Espinosa's character: 1/His life... 2/His dreams... 3/His self-defensive attitudes... 4/His disability:EpilepsyHe is not happy living his life on his own. He has a hidden adventurous character. He likes trouble, he likes testing his limits. Thus he pokes his nose into everything. He steals, collects and carries with him almost everything he thinks it's useful. In fact, Esteban Espinosa character may be an awesome sample of a Point-and-click Adventure Game. His character has been designed to be another Guybrush or another George Stobbart. Overall, El Aura is among the best of all-time Mystery/Adventure movies.