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The Aura (2005)
Directed by Fabián Bielinsky
Each epileptic seizure experienced by the film’s
protagonist is preceded by an aura — a twilight
zone where the sensory wires cross, making for an incoherent
mix of sounds and visions. In a less dramatic sense,
this is how the world appears to this unnamed central
character: civilized life seems to present few attractive
or sensible options. A taxidermist, he wears the unaffected
countenance of a mortician reminded daily of the indifference
and ruthlessness of the universe.
Arriving home to find his wife has left him, he reverses
an earlier decision and accepts an invitation to go
deer hunting. He finds shooting animals repulsive, but
the opportunity to get away from an empty house offsets
his reservations.
Thus begins a story of suspense in which the audience
proceeds through its own aura, in which events are not
so much surreal as unpredictable. It’s a world
of crime and violence, but the taxidermist himself proves
more nimble than his timidity would suggest.
This, unfortunately, was Belinsky’s last movie.
He died of a heart attack at the age of 47, just as
his films were beginning to draw more attention. The
Aura is gourmet nihilism — not for every day of
the week but very delectable, upon occasion.
Off the Black (2006)
Directed by James Ponsoldt
Nick Nolte plays Ray Cooke, a prematurely grizzled
and sagacious baseball umpire who takes a young pitcher
under his wings. It feels like a typecast. Ray has gained
his wisdom the hard way, his stooped posture reflecting
the weight of every unredeemed trial and error. His
manner of sharing these hard-won insights comes through
oblique laconic rifts, his gravelly voice accentuating
the self-inflicted wear and tear. He has grown stoic
for lack of any other option.
Dave Tibbel (Trevor Morgan) a young pitcher to whom
Ray would bequeath his philosophical gems, is not so
sure that he wants or needs the tutelage. But as they
spend more time together through a forced proximity,
Ray begins to fill a void left by the young man’s
father, who is consumed in grief over a wife who fled
the family two years earlier.
Off the Black, a dialog-driven film, would find a
better home on the boards. The title, a baseball metaphor,
refers to missing the strike zone. The film is not a
home run, but by avoiding sentimentality it keeps the
ball in play and in the end manages to score.
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