I'm not sure if there's a such thing as a Romanian New Wave, but we have seen five extraordinary pictures from there over the past five years. The new one is from director Cristi Puiu, his follow-up to The Death of Mr. Lazarescu. Aurora is maddening, but also fascinating and dryly funny in the same way that Lazarescu was. Puiu himself stars as a normal-looking guy with an ex-wife and kids. He lives in a cluttered apartment, which is being redecorated. He spends a bit of time dealing with water leaking from an upstairs neighbor's bathroom. He runs errands, collecting bits and pieces of what will eventually make a gun. He shoots some people, and acts like a jerk for a while before things finish up with a whimper. The movie deliberately takes the crime genre and strips it down to a point that it loses all its romantic allure; it's a fascinating, mesmerizing commentary on our thirst for the sensational, but at the same time, why are we watching this, and why does it have to be 3 hours long? (Viewed at the San Francisco International Film Festival.)
With Cristi Puiu, Clara Voda, Catrinel Dumitrescu, Luminita Gheorghiu, Valentin Popescu, Gheorghe Ifrim, Alina Grigore, Letitia Rosculet. Written by Cristi Puiu. Directed by Cristi Puiu. Not Rated. 181 minutes. In Romanian with English subtitles. September 16, 2011.
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