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Transcript

The Aura · The Next Reel Film Podcast

• 0:04
  Pete Wright: I'm Pete Wright.
• 0:06
  Andy Nelson: And I'm Andy Nelson.
• 0:08
  Pete Wright: Welcome to the next reel. When the movie ends
• 0:10
  Andy Nelson: Our conversation begins.
• 0:13
  Pete Wright: El Aura is over.
• 0:15
  You're really gonna kill a deer? You gotta have a lot of balls to do that, you know? A lot of balls, Andy. A lot of balls. It's a deer killing movie.
• 0:30
  A deer killing epilepsy movie. I'm made sad by this movie, not because of the subject matter, but because of its director who deserved to make more films.
• 0:43
  Andy Nelson: Yeah. Second movie. This well, this is our Ricardo Darín series. Yeah. Fabián Bielinsky made his first movie with Ricardo Darín which was in our first Ricardo Darín series.
• 0:55
  That's nine queens. Fantastic movie.
• 0:58
  Pete Wright: Fantastic.
• 0:59
  Andy Nelson: Great caper with twists and turns. Really interesting story. And this was his second film and second collaborate collaboration with Ricardo Darín And then, sadly, while he was on tour, after the film had been it was like doing a festival run and stuff, he, had a heart attack and died. Very, very sad.
• 1:22
  Pete Wright: Unbelievable.
• 1:23
  Andy Nelson: And he was young. Yeah.
• 1:25
  Pete Wright: He's like 47, something like that. Yeah. 47 years old. Like, we've already passed him. Yeah.
• 1:31
  Clock is ticking, man, any day.
• 1:35
  Andy Nelson: I put it like that. Wow.
• 1:36
  Pete Wright: Yeah. No. I don't love it. I don't love being that guy. But the fact that this was a the second of a proposed sort of spiritual trilogy that that he was making.
• 1:46
  Yeah. It's a it's a whole because this is a terrific movie. It is a terrific movie. It was new to me. I don't believe it was new to you because you Ricardo Darín is your spirit animal.
• 1:56
  Yeah. And you've seen everything multiple times.
• 1:59
  Andy Nelson: My wife keeps telling me I'm like, when I talk about Ricardo Darín she's like, I know you always say that Tom Hanks is your favorite actor, but I really think it's Ricardo Darín
• 2:10
  Pete Wright: It might be Ricardo Darín
• 2:11
  Andy Nelson: And I'm like, I don't think so, but he certainly is close.
• 2:15
  Pete Wright: What if It might
• 2:16
  Andy Nelson: be different if I had grown up with Ricardo Darín and had, like, all those childhood attachments that I have.
• 2:21
  Pete Wright: Yeah. You know? I mean, do you think what would you say if I told you that Ricardo Darín and Tom Hanks were best friends? Would that hurt you, or would you love it?
• 2:29
  Andy Nelson: No. That would make the world a better place. I would feel I would feel like maybe things are going right in the world after all. There is hope.
• 2:38
  Pete Wright: Okay. Good. Alright. So tell me about this movie. You you picked it, or did I pick it?
• 2:44
  I can't remember who picked it.
• 2:45
  Andy Nelson: This you picked this. You picked this one.
• 2:47
  Pete Wright: I know. I remember what happened because I screwed up my list, and I I had picked something that was that was foul. And I had to go back to Ricardo Darín and I picked this one because I hadn't seen it. I'm really glad I picked it. I'm really smart.
• 2:59
  Andy Nelson: I I don't know if that was the case because you were very excited about this one. This sounded like one that you had actually stewed on. It doesn't didn't sound like this was one that you came upon because of a foul. Like, you had read about this. You're like, hold on.
• 3:14
  Ricardo Doreen, heist movie, and he's epileptic. Like, you you were fascinated by this.
• 3:23
  Pete Wright: Those are the three things I look for in every movie. I can't believe this one has it all.
• 3:27
  Andy Nelson: This is the one where the three paths crossed.
• 3:32
  Pete Wright: Well, it was because it was new to me. And I have to tell you, and I'm gonna say that I loved the movie. I feel like the write up maybe oversells the heist parts because this movie is it it's really it's about a guy who fancies himself a real heisty kinda guy. He's got all of the tools that you would think he needs to do it. And he's got photographic memory.
• 4:02
  He's named for detail. But then it's just there's a lot of criminal shenanigans in the woods. It's really what this is about. Criminal shenanigans. There is if you're looking for a straight up, like, heisty heist, things fall apart in this movie.
• 4:18
  Like, there's no successful like, everybody's happy at the end because Robin Hood's come along and stolen from the rich and given to the poor, and Ocean's 11 didn't make it out and are now living their best life in Vegas. Like, it this movie is it's not that kind of heist movie.
• 4:34
  Andy Nelson: No. No. This is really about the mood and kind of the the vibe that we have. You know, we're following a guy who is I mean, he's kind of a lonely character. That's the you know, we meet, we meet Ricardo Durin's character, Esteban, who he works alone.
• 4:53
  He's a taxidermist, and he the beginning of the film, wait you know, he wakes up having just had an epileptic seizure. He's on the floor of the the the bank, at the ATM and late at night, and he kind of gets up, gets his stuff out of the ATM and leaves. And that's kind of our introduction to him. So we get a sense that, okay, this guy has some some issues that he's living with. And then we see him work at work as a taxidermist.
• 5:23
  He's alone. He's listening to music. Somebody who he works with, presumably, comes to door door and is knocking, and his response is to just turn the music up and ignore. Yeah.
• 5:33
  Pete Wright: So you get a sense.
• 5:34
  Andy Nelson: Okay. He's kind of somebody who's not that interested in, like, developing relationships and everything. And he you know, we we see him we follow him after he finishes the taxidermy work on this fox, he goes to the museum where it's gonna be part of a display, and he's talking to another taxidermist friend. But even that relationship feels like, you know, I mean, they are apparently friends outside of work as we see this guy invites him to come on this trip. But really, it's only because another guy had to had to bail.
• 6:09
  And he's like, I have this extra ticket. I know you aren't into hunting, but, hey, if you wanna come. And then when they're together, it's like, they seem abrasive. Like, their personalities
• 6:19
  Pete Wright: Yes. They don't like each other.
• 6:20
  Andy Nelson: Yeah. They're kind of butting heads, and it's like, okay. This is an interesting relationship. And I that's kind of what we we get this sense of this character who, yes, he's got this photographic memory. Yes, he suffers from these seizures.
• 6:35
  But he also approaches relationships in a way where sometimes he says the things that you don't say. Like, he's talking to his friend, and he mentions, like, well, you're the guy who did this to your wife or whatever. He says something pretty pretty rude and just not a kind thing to say.
• 6:56
  Pete Wright: Well, that was it. It was that the line that I picked was it takes a lot of balls to do that. What kind of balls? The kind of balls it takes to get drunk and beat the crap out of your wife
• 7:03
  Andy Nelson: Yeah. Right. And ruin your marriage.
• 7:05
  Pete Wright: Like, that's the that's the exchange these friends had in the woods. Yeah. Right. While carrying guns.
• 7:12
  Andy Nelson: And then his friends like, hey. You seem like you're fine. Good luck. I'm going that way. You stay here.
• 7:18
  And, like, that's that's who we get. So, yeah, it's it's an abrasive character, but he is compelling. And with Ricardo Dream playing him, of course, you you wanna watch him, but you do feel that there are elements to his character that pull you in. Yes. We he has this, I don't know, ability, this this knack at being able to, like, as they're standing in line at the bank to deposit their checks after the being at the museum, he's like, look how easy it would be to rob this place.
• 7:52
  And he walks through a whole heist scenario that, as far as we know, theoretically could be pulled off. But he's just not the type who's ever gonna do it. But he he thinks that way, and that's fascinating. So there's an interesting character component that we have.
• 8:07
  Pete Wright: Well, I wanna I I just wanna point out though that sequence before we before we lose it that that the way that was shot was beautiful. Right? The fact that as soon as he starts fantasizing, the people around him come to life at like a flash mob, and his fantasy directs what they're doing, and they are robbing the bank. And when he comes out of it, out of his reverie, everybody's standing back in line. But the transition into his dream state where he walks through this is awesome.
• 8:38
  And I think it it leads to some question about is everything he's experiencing real or fantastical happens again later. And I like the sort of the dance with unreliability that we have there.
• 8:50
  Andy Nelson: Yeah. No. No. Yeah. Absolutely.
• 8:52
  It's it's a very creative way to to shoot that, and I think that was that's the sort of thing that Biolinsky was really bringing to this. I I well, to your point, you had mentioned that Biolinsky had talked about this being part of this planned spiritual trilogy or conceptual trilogy, as he called it, with nine queens focusing on a mise en scene style of production. This one focusing very much on point of view, and we're really with Esteban the entire film. Like, in his mind, we're seeing things the way he's seeing. We're experiencing these seizures and kind of the aura as he describes it as he is.
• 9:32
  And so I think that is a really interesting element that he focused on intently here. Like, how can I best show this point of view of Esteban here? Let's just actually have it play out like it is in his mind. I think that was, fantastic.
• 9:46
  Pete Wright: Yeah. It it's it's really perfect and such a a wonderful performance, a wonderful opportunity for Doreen to to showcase his like, he really kinda corners the market in Argentinian brooding for a middle aged man. This movie is is a real is a real show horse for that style. The caper kinda starts. We already know he has the the ability to do what he needs to do, to to fantasize about being this this criminal mastermind.
• 10:15
  But the caper really starts when he goes hunting and accidentally shoots someone. I thought he shot his buddy at first. Right? I think the movie wants you to think that because they had intentionally separated. You know what?
• 10:32
  He said, I'm going that way. I don't like you, and they end up kind of in this they're in the same wood. We've already been set up to believe that nobody goes here. Right? They set up the the whole premise was we're going to a place to hunt where no one else goes.
• 10:49
  And so why would we believe that there was anybody else in these woods hunting besides these two guys? So I was shocked when he shot a person. The person falls, and it turns out it's not his buddy. Now we have Dietrich. Yeah.
• 11:04
  We have a cape or a foot.
• 11:05
  Andy Nelson: That is an interesting element because Dietrich is well, we do know he's out. He could be in these woods, but he also might be somewhere else because he's been gone a while. And that's kind of the mystery of this character that we learn from his wife Diana, played by Dolores Fonzi, who is great in this film as kind of the the young wife whose brother Julio is also here and kind of an ass to our guys when they show up. So he got an interesting an interesting setup and the dynamic of this particular camp area where they happen to be. And then, as you said, he accidentally kills Dietrich as he's trying to legitimately now hunt.
• 11:50
  Now he had also we hadn't mentioned, but he had just had another seizure. Right? He had a seizure Yes. In the forest. He falls over.
• 11:58
  He wait when he finally comes to and sits up, the deer is still there. So he's kind of like moving his he's looking around. He hears it, but he can't quite see it, and he's spinning around. And so when he spins and shoots, he thinks that he legitimately thinks that it's the deer because it's the only thing that he thinks is out here. As you said, it does kind of set it up where it's probably his friend who it isn't.
• 12:24
  The it ends up being this, this person. And that sets up our story, as you're saying, because in the scope of the caper, as we learn, as as he learns, because he goes into this cabin, this little cabin outside of which Dietrich was standing. He kills Dietrich. He goes into his cabin, and he sees it's full of all of this stuff, hinting at some sort of we don't know yet. He doesn't know yet, but it's a lot of odd information that he starts piecing together is all part of this heist that Dietrich is a key part of as far as putting this plan together to rob this, local, mountain casino.
• 13:06
  Pete Wright: And the shorthand of the movie is that our protagonist here can sponge all of this information into his head. He can remember everything that he sees, almost everything that he sees. But everything that he sees for all of our our purposes right now, he is taking this information in. He's equipping himself. I like this angle on this character.
• 13:29
  I like the way Doreen plays it. I like the way it's shot. It's it is the perfect sort of criminal lair, follow the yarns across the room kind of a thing. And I I just think it plays very nicely. It reminds me a lot of the greats of seven of, you know, usual suspects.
• 13:47
  Like, anytime you're you're zooming in on cork boards and papers, it it looks really cool. And now he is ostensibly accidentally, incidentally gonna take the place of Dietrich in this caper. And now we have we introduce our our criminals.
• 14:07
  Andy Nelson: Well, let's also not forget in the cabin, there is the, the hidden gun that is, you know, very much kinda like a gun on the mantelpiece sort of situation, like hiding behind a, pair of antlers that he finds. And so could that gun come in handy? I guess we'll find out. We yeah. We so we have these other two people that show up that definitely don't seem like they're here to to hunt.
• 14:37
  Right? Like, they just like, one of them, Montero, looks old and kind of sickly. Like, every time he's walking around, he's, like, panting, and he's just like, what the hell? How many steps did we just have to walk? Like, he's always calculating, like, how far did I just go?
• 14:51
  Which is a great little character moment. And Sosa and they're looking for Dietrich, but he's not around. And they're they're kind of pissed. But because Espinosa Esteban ends up taking Dietrich's cell phone with him, they connect him to Dietrich. And so he plays this whole thing.
• 15:14
  And that's where and this is where it's fascinating, where as he's having conversation, like, a conversation with this person oh, and he also has listened to some messages on Dietrich's phone from Vega about this factory robbery. And I guess we should also mention that, like, after he finds out about this, he goes to see what like, this factory at this time, and he goes there, and he sees this robbery take place. Is totally botched. He follows the guy who's Vega as he's shot and bleeding and dying. He follows him all the way, I don't know, across town until he's, like, dying by some wall.
• 15:53
  And then once the guy dies, he takes the key off of his neck because apparently, Dietrich in all of this stuff, there was something about Vega and this key. And so he takes the key. And all of this stuff, as he's talking to Sosa and Montero, it's like a pinball game in a conversation where as they're talking, he's picturing the room, and the ball is bouncing around. And it's hitting all the right things that they're mentioning, and he's like, oh, yeah. Robbery.
• 16:23
  Oh, yeah. Casino. Ping. And it's just like all the little lights keep going off in his head as he's able to actually have this conversation with him. It's it's fascinating the way that that played.
• 16:32
  Pete Wright: Yeah. Yeah. It really is. Now the whole time, we should say, the whole time what we're looking at is essentially a green pass. Like, this whole thing is green.
• 16:39
  It is like a it it they they've taken the woods, and they have taken that green light that when you're in it feels so good. Like, it's the just the light through the trees, and it's awesome and embraces you, and they've made it somehow disgusting. Like, in a in a good way. Like, it fits the vibe, but the the color pass, the visual tone is so desaturated and drab. And whether we're inside the cabin or inside his room or inside the I mean, the film opens in the ATM vestibule that is just totally white light, but it's green, white light.
• 17:18
  Like, everything looks green. And, I mean, I like it. It definitely sets a mood. It's a very sort of fight club vibe. Like, there is such a tone that was so intentionally placed on this movie to, I think, to add to the the sort of unsettled nature of his space in the world.
• 17:40
  And I think that's important because his space in the world is marred by a neurological disorder that causes him to just exist and then suddenly pass out as a result of how light is hitting him. Right? Like, the way he talks about he can't drive because they nobody wants him to drive. He won't give him a license because of flashing, you know, patterns when he drives, and he'll they're afraid he'll have a seizure. The world is sort of out to get him in that regard.
• 18:12
  And I think the just the general look and tone of the feel of the film, it does such an effective job at at at mirroring his depressive state and the the vast economic bleakness of Argentina or of of Argentina. Argentina. God. I would go there. It's a fantasy location.
• 18:34
  That it just really, I I think, complements the the way the film handles our perception of what is real.
• 18:42
  Andy Nelson: To that end, I'm curious for you how how Bielinski paired with, you know, Cecil Varese is the cinematographer here. How they chose to shoot the actual moments when Esteban is having the seizures or or or the moment building up to the seizure, really, which we have I mean So cool. We only have twice in the film. The first time, he he's already waking up from it. So it's really in the forest, and then the second time is, like, in the middle of the heist.
• 19:14
  Right? He's trying to he finds out some key information that they he wasn't aware of. He was trying to get to them to let them know, and that's when he he has his seizure. The way that Bilinski and Verese shot this is they had a a circular dolly track around Darin. And on that dolly track, they had another dolly track that was that would move in and out.
• 19:41
  And what they would do is they would do the whole trick of, like, moving the dolly in or moving moving the camera in on the dolly while they were zooming out. So you're getting that while it's spinning. And really the best time you get that is in the forest. You kind of get a few shots of that. How does that enhance things for you?
• 20:03
  Do you like the way that they shot the those moments?
• 20:05
  Pete Wright: Oh, yeah. It's deeply unsettling. Right? Because the the the the third component is the sort of waving back and forth between symmetry and asymmetry in the frame. Like, sometimes we're looking at him straight on, especially when the spins start.
• 20:21
  And sometimes we're just looking at his ear off to one side of the frame, and the way it keeps it keeps moving is very jarring. And I think I think it is you know, it's it's seizure cam. Right? I mean, it it wants me to share just a little bit of the experience that he is is having right now, and I think it's very, very effective. And it's clever.
• 20:44
  It's clever. I was watching it thinking, god. You know? This they could have done something crazy with effects and and, you know, his face could melt and he could turn into a tree himself, and they could do all kinds of crazy things. But they really just used cleverness with using tricks that we've known for a hundred years and just used the camera to make us feel off just completely on our heels, and I love it.
• 21:10
  Andy Nelson: Yeah. It's an interesting it's an interesting way of cinematic construction that they've come up with to again, going to this point of view methodology that he was focusing on with the production of this film, working at finding ways through the camera placement, camera movement, through the, the cutting from shot to shot, even the sound design to put us into his headspace, to really give us a sense as to what this might be like to go through this sort of thing and how disconcerting and frightening it can be. Also, he talks about, like, somebody says, do you remember anything? And he's just like, I remember every single thing. And so you also get that sense that this is all his senses being fully lit up, capturing everything that is going on around him in those moments.
• 22:11
  It's that aura, right, that we're talking about. Like, and that ties into, I suppose, the concept of the film also, which is which is interesting because here we have, again, this guy who wants to be imagines himself in as somebody who can plot and plan and put these amazing heists together where everything goes off without a hitch. He never does, but he he that's the sort of mentality he has. And this is that moment that gives him that ability. Like, having these moments where he's kind of connected to all of his senses really makes him ultra aware of things that are going on paired with his photographic memory.
• 22:56
  So it's it's a fascinating way to show it. And, yeah, I find it effective and kind of terrifying in the in the reality of the fact that this is not something he has any control over.
• 23:13
  Pete Wright: Yeah. I think that that metaphor for the loss of control in this movie on all of these layers. Right? The layer of his just physiological experience, the layer of his aspiration as it pairs with his opportunity. It's all out of control.
• 23:31
  Like, this is a guy who is like, we when we meet him, he is at his very best. Right? He is a taxidermist. We have no reason to doubt that he's anything but a good taxidermist. It is when he leaves that that mold and tries to do something different, that things fall apart.
• 23:56
  Like, has the the he understands what he he believes he's capable of, and he demonstrates that he's not capable of it. And that's sad.
• 24:06
  Andy Nelson: Does he, though? Like, is that how you see it? Like, he demonstrates he's not capable of it? Or
• 24:11
  Pete Wright: Yeah. Don't you think?
• 24:14
  Andy Nelson: I think he demonstrates that he's he's capable of putting all the pieces together. I think where he's shortsighted is the reality of the people that he works with. You know? He's a person who trusts his ability to put a puzzle together. And, yeah, he misses the one key fact about the fact that Vega is supposed to be the third band on this in this armored car.
• 24:41
  But he he's pretty solid at putting everything else together. But he really is terrible at reading these two guys, so said Montero. Julio is also in on it as we find out, but he's young. And we can understand he's he's not the sort of person who knows how to read people the right way. And Dietrich was supposed to be there.
• 24:59
  And with him there, Julio was probably gonna be fine. With Esteban running this thing, he has like, neither he nor Julio have any clear sense as to how to read Sosa or Montero. And that costs Julio his life and nearly costs Esteban his life. And I think that's the biggest problem that he has with this sort of thing. Like, he can imagine the whole heist and everything, but that's like an Ocean's 11 type of heist where everyone's buddy buddy, and they all get along.
• 25:30
  Right. And, really, they're there to do a job, and there's no human personality involved at all. It's just it's just, you know, a leads to b leads to c leads to d, and they just walk through it. Once you get actual people, especially criminals involved, it's a very different story. And I think that's where he's shortsighted.
• 25:50
  Pete Wright: Well, I think you're just as you're you're making my point. Right? Because the the sad part to me is is that, like, he he has all of the skills to be able to do this except for one of the most important ones as demonstrated by the film, not being able to account for humanity. Yeah. And that is a pretty significant shortcoming, and it's also why he's at at home as a taxidermist.
• 26:16
  Right? It's not asking him to do anything that would stress his ability to to make trusting relationships with completely untrusting people. And it's kind of central to the job, I think.
• 26:31
  Andy Nelson: Yeah. You're right. You're right. So I think to that end, you're absolutely right. And I think he's able to play off of them pretty well.
• 26:40
  Like, he has all the information so he can have all the right conversations with both Sosa
• 26:45
  Pete Wright: Mhmm.
• 26:45
  Andy Nelson: With Montero, also with I I can't remember the name of the guy who actually works at the casino. It's, Orien. Orien is the one who works at the casino. He's able to have the conversations. But, is like, you don't seem like you're able to, you know, get all of this put together the way it needs to be.
• 27:10
  Pete Wright: Yeah. Well, you've already mentioned the the big conceit that he misses that that this was a weekend, and they need three drivers instead of two. He thinks he has it completely under control, and he watched the third driver bleed out on the street following him like a sociopath. So without Vega, everything falls apart. People start going in different directions, and we get to a shootout.
• 27:36
  And things go south. He ends up our final sort of scene of retribution in the woods pits him against the two sort of peak villains. We've got a a guard locked in the money truck, and they're about to use an acetylene torch to cut through the the truck and get it out. And everybody starts killing each other, and we get the final loss of trust as he realizes he's going to be shot in addition to the kid getting shot in the head, which was jarring as they clean up their their mess. This is this ends darkly.
• 28:20
  Andy Nelson: It's it's very dark. And I suppose that's, in the end, the lesson that he learns from all this. Like, he's fascinated by the idea of how easy these sorts of things can be to put together and how you could pull it off with such if the planning is there, it can go off without a hitch and not be very difficult at all. Because of these human elements that he's so I mean, the beginning of the film, he's not talking to his coworker. He comes home, and his wife has left him.
• 28:51
  She's left a card out, a dear John letter.
• 28:53
  Pete Wright: Right.
• 28:54
  Andy Nelson: Right?
• 28:54
  Pete Wright: That's he gets doesn't he get two cards?
• 28:57
  Andy Nelson: Well, the second the second one is to Julio, but it's Yeah. It's brilliantly, Bilinski shoots it, designs the whole scene exactly like when he came home and found that letter from his wife. So that was, I thought, really, smartly done. So, yeah, he's in this situation where he has to now step up. And this goes back to his conversation that he had with his friend who's like, you've you've never killed anything.
• 29:20
  You don't you won't be able to kill deer. It takes balls. Mhmm. Now with Sosa and having shot Julio, Montero and Sosa both shooting at him now. Sosa's run out of bullets, and so he leads him into the cabin to get more bullets.
• 29:37
  And it's, like, it's it's kind of funny. He's just like, he's just gonna go along with it. Okay. Yep. I'll just follow along because you're about to shoot me, and I'll I'll wait for you to load the gun.
• 29:46
  That was really funny. It, of course, leads to the gun on the mantelpiece and that final shootout. But that's there's an interesting element in there. And, again, going back to the POV style of production here, we have Esteban run off into the forest. Sosa chased after Montero, we haven't said.
• 30:04
  He's been shot. He's sitting there bleeding out, so he's slowly dying. And Esteban runs into the forest, Sosa after him, and Sosa has been grazed by a bullet that Esteban had shot at him. He he comes to a place where he stops and he sees Sosa, like, getting more bullets in the gun. Right?
• 30:26
  And we go into his mind as he watches himself go through the act of walking forward, pulling the gun out, and shooting Sosa. And then we come back to reality, and we see him go through that. What did you think of that moment where he's like, he kind of fits with the, you know, the very first The bank. Yeah. The bank.
• 30:54
  But now he's actually going through with it. How did you read Yeah.
• 30:58
  Pete Wright: That's a really good question because it you you it it kind of makes the argument that we're watching him improve as a criminal mastermind himself. Right? That the first time it was a fantasy. This time, it's as if his his sort of ability to see ahead is is giving him practice. Right?
• 31:20
  He's able to to actually execute what he sees in his head because he's done his creative visualization. Right? Like, this is Right. Yeah. This is him visualizing a successful future, and so he process.
• 31:34
  The question is, is he really? Or or is this a just a a a panic state kind of reaction? I don't I don't know how reliable we're supposed to take it.
• 31:44
  Andy Nelson: I I kind of saw it as this is a guy who in order to I don't know. Because because it seems like he's somebody who needs the confidence to actually go through something like this, Like, he's he's struggling even just the idea of his friend killing a deer. And so I got the sense that he's gonna have a really hard time being able to actually kill somebody. And so he puts himself through the act of just walking through it mentally to get through the hard part. And then once he's kind of visualized doing it, then he just kind of follows along and does it.
• 32:26
  So I felt like it was the it was a way that he was doing it that was making it easier for himself in some way.
• 32:33
  Pete Wright: Yeah. I don't know.
• 32:34
  Andy Nelson: Is that does that make sense?
• 32:36
  Pete Wright: Yeah. I I mean, I I think so. I I think it's this it's just the idea that he has to figure out how to numb out from a thing that makes him very uncomfortable before he does it. Right?
• 32:48
  Andy Nelson: Yeah. Right. Exactly.
• 32:49
  Pete Wright: It seems it seems counterintuitive that he's a taxidermist, and he's he doesn't kill things. And and now he's being put in this position to to have to kill people. And and I think that's where we're supposed to feel that uncertainty, and I think that's what that's what it does.
• 33:06
  Andy Nelson: Well, and to that end and, again, you know, this show is designed to talk about movies after we've seen them and hopefully after you've seen them, but we are certainly spoiling this one. After he does all of that, he comes back. By this point, Montero actually has bled out. He's dead. He goes to try talking to the guard in the back of the armored car and then sees the blood pouring out of the back door and pooling on the ground below it, realizing that guy's been shot in the it's in some somewhere and is bled out and is dead.
• 33:43
  The third bleed out. But he doesn't take the money.
• 33:47
  Pete Wright: Right. Can he?
• 33:49
  Andy Nelson: Well, I mean, I'm sure he could use the torch and and cut the truck open and take it. Right? I guess that's true. I I read it like he chooses not to because, like, his thing wasn't about getting rich. It was about the act.
• 34:06
  Like, that's how I read it. Like, I I'm I don't know. It seems like there's by leaving the truck there, it also closes the door on the situation. Assuming one day, authorities will actually find the truck and this crime scene out here, they'll realize, okay. Here's all the dead bodies.
• 34:26
  Here's the the truck and the dead guard. These are all the people who were involved. Dietrich as we know, Dietrich's body is somewhere in that proximity also there. So that's the other guy. So he leaves and doesn't take the money.
• 34:43
  If once they find all this, case closed. Right? There's there's they've they've pretty much closed the investigation. There's not gonna be any searching for the mysterious extra person who has all the money. And and so I I don't know.
• 34:58
  I guess I think that it's just his way of of getting out of a bad situation in a way that he's gonna go back to his normal life and just kind of pretend it never happened, but knowing that he kind of, in some capacity, made it through.
• 35:13
  Pete Wright: Yeah. I can see that. There was there was a tiny piece of me that sees him staring at that at the truck and thinking, okay. That dead guy had the skills to do this. And there is some layer of emasculation that has him staring at that truck and not knowing the first thing about torches and cutting open armored cars and having him just give up.
• 35:41
  That there was just a little bit I this movie attuned me towards seeing toward him seeing less of himself. Right? Like, I don't know I don't know why. That's really what does that say about me? It's not great.
• 35:59
  Andy Nelson: Oh, too funny. Too funny. Yeah. Because we we know that Julio is dead, and his sister Diana, there you know, she was afraid to leave. They have this whole conversation.
• 36:14
  And this is where you kind of get the human side of Esteban because he has this conversation with Diana as he's driving her around and stuff and and finds out how abusive that Dietrich has been. Not only Dietrich who had been her father's friend, but also as we find out, her father was also abusive. And she went from an abusive father to an abusive husband
• 36:38
  Pete Wright: Right.
• 36:39
  Andy Nelson: And tried to leave once, and he found her and brought her back, and it wasn't good. And so she's afraid to leave. And so she's just like, I just can't. I I I I'm done trying to leave. And that's when Esteban says, Dietrich is not coming back.
• 36:56
  He is not coming back. He doesn't spell out what happened, but he's just like, like, trust me. He's not coming back. So after all of this, he goes back to her cabin, and that's that whole letter. He's there's that second letter just like for his wife.
• 37:11
  This is to Julio. She doesn't know that Julio is gone, but now she's free, and all he does is he takes the dog. He takes Dietrich's dog, and that's that's, I guess, his reward is a new companion.
• 37:26
  Pete Wright: Okay. Is there a little part of you? So the very end, he's back in his taxidermy lab. What what do you call him? Office shop.
• 37:34
  And there's a there's a slow kind of pan across the surfaces and across all the animals, and then it goes down to the dog's face, and the dog's looking up. Is there a little part of you that thought, for a second, oh god. Did he taxidermy that dog? Because it's on that dog for a long time before the dog blinks.
• 37:56
  Andy Nelson: Yeah. The dog just has to hoop. I didn't think that, but that's really funny that it's dark that you went there.
• 38:03
  Pete Wright: This is what I've been trying to tell you for forty minutes.
• 38:08
  Andy Nelson: Yeah.
• 38:08
  Pete Wright: This movie is great, and it did things to me, man.
• 38:11
  Andy Nelson: Yeah. Right. Holy cow. Well, here's speaking of dark places. So the dog who we know is kinda like, the first time he meets the dog, the dog growls and is not friendly.
• 38:24
  After he's killed Dietrich, the dog smells Dietrich's smell on him, and now is like his best friend. And now always wants to be with him, follows him, and everything like that. There's one point where he's standing out on his his porch at night, and, like, smoking a cigarette or something, and he hears and then sees the dog walk by, and the dog's face is covered in blood. Yeah. Had the dog just been eating Dietrich?
• 38:54
  Is that where your mind went? Exactly where it went.
• 38:58
  Pete Wright: My god. That was so like, come on, dog.
• 39:03
  Andy Nelson: Yeah. That's what my brain went to. Yeah. I know. Nobody
• 39:07
  Pete Wright: liked Dietrich. Nobody.
• 39:10
  Andy Nelson: Yeah. That was that was brutal.
• 39:12
  Pete Wright: Yeah. So brutal. Yeah. Yeah. That's I mean, that's the story of of this movie.
• 39:19
  It is it is crazy subdued, and in that sort of quietness is brutality around every corner. This is the brutality of the woods.
• 39:30
  Andy Nelson: It really is. And and it's it is a world of brutality that somebody who deals with death every day as his job. His job is stuffing things that people have killed. Like, has his life is filled with death. Right?
• 39:50
  Yeah. Yeah. But now he's in a place with the actual violent acts happening themselves and has to figure out how to deal with that. And I think that's a fascinating element of the story where he's
• 40:05
  Pete Wright: kind
• 40:05
  Andy Nelson: of thrust into the realities of it. And, yeah, I mean, I guess, realizes it's not for him. He's not clearly going to pursue a career in bank heists.
• 40:16
  Pete Wright: I think you I think that's more of a gig work. It's kind of gig comedy. When
• 40:23
  Andy Nelson: the taxi rework really slows down. I don't I don't know if it's a career.
• 40:30
  Pete Wright: Oh, no. It is it it didn't feel as long as it's hundred and thirty four minutes to me. It felt Just over
• 40:38
  Andy Nelson: two hours. Yeah.
• 40:39
  Pete Wright: Yeah. It it felt like it moved right along. Even as kind of subdued as its pacing is, Boy, I I didn't turn away. Not a single bit.
• 40:48
  Andy Nelson: I say that's to do with the two main factors we've been talking about. The direction of Belinsky, who weaves a fascinating dark story in a quiet way, very subdued as you've said, but so compelling. Like, it's just it's always compelling to see what's gonna happen here, which and it feels very different from nine queens. And Ricardo Doreen. Like, we are always with him.
• 41:15
  He is in every single scene of this film, and he carries it. Like, he brings so much to like,
• 41:23
  Pete Wright: so much
• 41:23
  Andy Nelson: internal complexity to this character who's always thinking about these things and trying to analyze these situations. And just the way that he plays that, I think, is really fantastic. It's just excellent.
• 41:36
  Pete Wright: Andy, you I can't believe I've I've held on to this quite so long. This movie actually has a single transition that is one of my favorite transitions in film. Really? Do you know which one it is? It's just it's it's just an edit.
• 41:54
  Andy Nelson: Now that you say that, I I feel like I should remember it, but I don't.
• 41:58
  Pete Wright: I feel like you should too. I mean, do you want a second? Should I play some music?
• 42:04
  Andy Nelson: Right? No. No. No.
• 42:06
  Pete Wright: No more than that. They're very litigious.
• 42:08
  Andy Nelson: Yeah. Right. Okay. Yeah. Right.
• 42:10
  Pete Wright: It is the travel montage. The travel sequence where our buddies are you know what I'm talking about?
• 42:17
  Andy Nelson: Yes. Yes.
• 42:18
  Pete Wright: There is a cut where these guys get on a plane and they're sitting together side by side in plane seats, and there is a a dissolve into them sitting in exactly the same orientation in a Jeep driving down the road. And the scale is perfect. The everything is perfect about this transition. It's like they just they just phased there. And that was a thing that I I haven't seen done quite so artfully as in this film.
• 42:50
  It was perfect.
• 42:51
  Andy Nelson: Isn't it aren't there aren't there a few? Don't they go from, like, sitting at the airport to sitting on the plane to sitting in the jeep to I I feel like there's even one more. Yeah. If yeah. That was excellent.
• 43:02
  It's like on par with what Edgar Wright does as we watch Simon Pegg go from the city to
• 43:08
  Pete Wright: the country in hot fuzz. A 100%. I that is also up there high on the same list. I was so surprised at the artfulness of this camera that in this movie, a movie that is so subdued and would just slap me in the face with just, again, straight up cleverness. Just great.
• 43:28
  Andy Nelson: Yeah.
• 43:29
  Pete Wright: I mean, that's a lot. That's a lot of work to get that scale to work across those vehicles, like in the plane, in the Jeep, in the airport. Those are very different places and, you know, shooting situations. I thought that was incredible.
• 43:43
  Andy Nelson: Yeah. They did a great job with that. I completely, completely agree.
• 43:47
  Pete Wright: Well, I wanted to ask you, what did you think about the days of the week?
• 43:51
  Andy Nelson: In a story about a person who is as meticulous and kind of like the planning and everything, it made sense to have that breaking it down for us from going through the days of the week as far as, like, we knew that the heist was going to be on Monday and all of these different elements coming to play. I thought it played. I thought it was actually pretty nice to have that. It it seemed to work for me. And I think it's because, again, this point of view with Esteban that we're following.
• 44:21
  Pete Wright: Yeah. Yeah. I thought so too. And I I felt like it was leaning us toward kind of an anthology of stories. Like, each day is its own sort of isolated experience when put together.
• 44:37
  It makes a Wednesday to Wednesday week in this guy's life. But, really, what happens if you take these little stories and watch them separately? What do you learn about a man by watching a single day and then watching two or three together? I I I found it a just more of an interesting thought experiment than anything else. And he didn't have enough clothes with him to, you know, figure out if he was wearing days of the week underpants.
• 45:02
  So I I wasn't sure if the movie really needed to commit to that bit quite so hard, but it was It was clever. I
• 45:09
  Andy Nelson: agree. It worked.
• 45:11
  Pete Wright: Yeah.
• 45:12
  Andy Nelson: Our composer, Lucio Godoy. Yeah. Spanish Argentine composer, composed the music for Intacto, a movie that, we know and love. Famously. If you wanna hear us chatting about Intacto, you can get the Blu ray released from Umbrella, and they pulled a clip of our podcast, and they featured it in a video essay, which is pretty cool.
• 45:35
  Pete Wright: Video, we're special feature. We're we're a special feature. We are a very special feature.
• 45:40
  Andy Nelson: It is the thing. I think think there's the special features and then extra very special features.
• 45:44
  Pete Wright: Extra very
• 45:45
  Andy Nelson: special very special features
• 45:46
  Pete Wright: by you. That's what it is.
• 45:48
  Andy Nelson: But he did the music for Intacto. He did the sea inside. He did the others. And so, I mean, yeah, definitely a composer that has done a lot of prominent films that are are worth talking about. And I think the music here also fits the tone, kind of that vibe that we've been talking about so much.
• 46:07
  Pete Wright: Well and it's kinda relentless too. Like, it's there is there's very little of this film that isn't covered by some sort of score to the point where they actually drop sound of the movie and just play the score in and out of of sequences, particularly around the seizures. And so I I think it's a it's practically an opera, this movie. Like, it's got a real sort of high art vibe to it that that accompanies our experience with him. It's beautiful.
• 46:39
  Andy Nelson: This could be an interesting opera, actually, Pete. Yeah. I could see that playing. Yeah. Yeah.
• 46:44
  Interesting. Well, I think it's fantastic. Lot of great performances. Really fascinating story that Bialinski wrote and directed here. And I am thrilled to get back to Ricardo It's been too long.
• 46:59
  We need to have more conversations about his films on the show.
• 47:03
  Pete Wright: We've definitely talked about more Ricardo Doreen than Tom Hanks, just so it's out there. All of the evidence is stacking up against your fandom. So just so you know that.
• 47:15
  Andy Nelson: That is so not true. We've talked about more Tom Hanks still. I don't believe it. This is only our fourth Ricardo Doreen film that we've discussed.
• 47:22
  Pete Wright: You think we've talked about four Tom Hanks films?
• 47:26
  Andy Nelson: We've talked about, like, six or seven. K. So yes.
• 47:29
  Pete Wright: I don't know about that. Yeah. I don't know about that.
• 47:32
  Andy Nelson: And I'm not even counting the film board because I know the film board's tackled like
• 47:36
  Pete Wright: The film board has tackled some.
• 47:37
  Andy Nelson: Quite a number of Tom Hanks films.
• 47:39
  Pete Wright: That doesn't count, though. You've abdicated responsibility for the film board. You don't get to count those. Alright.
• 47:47
  Andy Nelson: Yeah. I don't know. You have me you have me curious now. See, this is what you do. Real time research.
• 47:54
  That's where we to do real time research. How many Tom Hanks movies have we discussed? How many that are actually part of, like, the Tom Hanks series, let's just say? We did I don't know. I'm going with seven.
• 48:07
  I'm I'm looking right now. Tom Hanks archives. Let's see. How many are you guessing? We this is our fourth one here.
• 48:16
  Pete Wright: The problem is, I know we've done what have we done? We've done Apollo 13 and A League of Their Own, There's No Crying in Baseball, and we've done Forrest Gump. And those are the ones I can remember. Oh, we did the film board did the circle, but we don't talk about the circle.
• 48:36
  Andy Nelson: Yeah. We're not doing film board. The other the others that we talked about Splash. Are Yeah. And Jovers the Volcano.
• 48:43
  Pete Wright: Yes. Of course. Jovers the Volcano.
• 48:45
  Andy Nelson: So we're at five. We're at five. And big. Oh, we did. But that technically wasn't part of Tom Hanks series.
• 48:51
  That was part of our not Penny Marshall. It was, I'm forgetting, you know, seaweed. Him. John Heard? John Heard.
• 49:02
  It was our John Heard series.
• 49:04
  Pete Wright: Steweed. I, yeah, I think that counts as a Tom Hanks vehicle.
• 49:10
  Andy Nelson: I'm proud of you. I'm proud of you for remembering that that was John Heard. That was my one line.
• 49:17
  Pete Wright: I know what is wrong with me that I got that.
• 49:22
  Andy Nelson: Oh, totally John Heard. Definitely John Heard. Everybody knows. Yeah.
• 49:27
  Pete Wright: Okay. Alright. So maybe we've talked about more Tom Hanks than Ricardo Doreen.
• 49:32
  Andy Nelson: But it doesn't have to be that way, Pete. We can we can start cranking. We need to add to our Ricardo Doreen series.
• 49:38
  Pete Wright: Yeah. And maybe not watch that cockamamie submarine boat movie with Tom Hanks where he just wore slippers. I'm just saying, they're not all nuggets of gold.
• 49:53
  Andy Nelson: Okay. Alright. Well, I think that pretty much covers it. Great film. I'm glad to have added it to the list.
• 50:01
  So I'm glad you picked it.
• 50:04
  Pete Wright: Me too. Ahoy. Well, we'll
• 50:07
  Andy Nelson: be right back, but first, our credits.
• 50:21
  Pete Wright: The next reel is a production of True Story FM, engineering by Andy Nelson, music by Anthony Vega, score maestro, Rotem Cinnamon, Oreo Novella, and Eli Catlin. Andy usually finds all the stats for the awards and numbers at d-numbers.com, boxofficemojo.com, imdb.com, and wikipedia.org. Find the show at truestory.fm. And if your podcast app allows ratings and reviews, please consider doing that for our show. You know what's wild?
• 51:04
  I'm frozen in this eternal pose, glass eyes staring at nothing, and I've got all the time in the world to think. And you know what I think about? Movies. Specifically, I think about how you need to be logging all of your films on Letterboxd. Look.
• 51:23
  I get it. You watch a movie. You move on with your life. But here's the thing. I can't move on with anything.
• 51:31
  I'm mounted on a wall, and even I know the importance of keeping track of what you've watched. Letterboxd is the social network for film lovers, rate movies, write reviews, create lists, follow friends. It's like Goodreads, but for cinemas and infinitely cooler because you can track every single film that crosses your path. Trust me. When you're stuffed and posed for eternity, you appreciate good record keeping.
• 51:58
  I mean, you're listening to a podcast about El Or right now, a film about a taxidermist, which let me tell you, is a tough subject for me personally. But you care about cinema. You're thoughtful about it. So why aren't you documenting your film journey? Just head to letterbox.com and create a free account to start logging films and discover what your friends are watching.
• 52:23
  Find your next favorite movie through the community's lists and reviews. And when you're ready to upgrade to pro for features like advanced filtering, year end review statistics, and zero ads, Use the code NextReal at checkout for 20% off. That's NextReal, all one word, works for new upgrades and renewals. So even if you're already a member, you can save. Unlike me, your life isn't frozen in time, so use it to track your cinematic journey.
• 52:59
  Okay, Andy. This one's got some noms.
• 53:03
  Andy Nelson: Yes. Yes. It does. This film, did well at the awards, at the Argentinian Film Critics Association Awards or the, they are called the what are they? The Silver Condor Awards, which I I like saying that even better.
• 53:21
  The Silver Condor Awards, it, was really, really well received. This is essentially Argentina Argentina's I was gonna say Argentina, just like you. Argentina's Oscars. Ricardo Durin won best actor.
• 53:36
  Pete Wright: Yeah. You
• 53:37
  Andy Nelson: did. It was nominated for best art direction, the lost to blessed by fire or Illuminados por al fuego. It won for best cinematography, best direction. It lost best editing to blessed by fire. It won best film, which is the big one.
• 53:53
  It lost best music to Koutiva. It was it won best original screenplay. It won best sound, and Seidron Seidron, played Sosa, the villain, one of the two villains, the not older sick one. He was nominated for best supporting actor, but lost to Ugo Arana in Kautila. And then at the Sundance Film Festival, this was when it was in its, festival run.
• 54:18
  It was nominated in the World Cinema Awards for dramatic films, but lost to 13 Sameti, which sounds like an interesting one. A man takes over a dead man's task without realizing the horror it entails.
• 54:30
  Pete Wright: It sounds like exactly the same story.
• 54:32
  Andy Nelson: I was gonna say, interestingly, it sounds like this film.
• 54:40
  Pete Wright: Damn funny. Alright. Yeah. Nailed it. Argentina coming with the same same.
• 54:47
  How to do at the box office?
• 54:58
  Andy Nelson: He had a budget of 2,800,000.0 US dollars or 4 and a half million in today's dollars. The movie opened in Argentina 09/15/2005, where it opened number one at the box office and was the second highest opening weekend of the year there, and it held the number one spot for its second weekend as well. Clearly, this had its fans. It then played in festivals around the world for the next few years, also opening in a few other markets. Here in The States, it played at Sundance and the Chicago Film Festival in 2006 before having a limited release in New York City starting 11/17/2006.
• 55:33
  It made about 58,000 here in The States and 1,700,000.0 everywhere else for a total gross of 2,800,000.0 in today's dollars. That lands it with an adjusted loss per finished minute of twelve thousand. But honestly, based on how it was received in Argentina, this really makes me wonder if I'm saddled with incomplete data. That is has been my nemesis for this season, as you know, Pete. So who knows?
• 55:59
  But anyway, we can hope that it did end in the green at least.
• 56:03
  Pete Wright: Yeah. It had to have ended in the green.
• 56:07
  Andy Nelson: I hope so. Yeah.
• 56:08
  Pete Wright: I it had to. I mean, I just it's just too it's too good a movie. And it's all I can think about is what a bummer it is that it's hard to find.
• 56:17
  Andy Nelson: Yeah.
• 56:18
  Pete Wright: Yeah. It's it's not an easy film. It's not streaming anywhere. It's, you know, we we found it our ways, and we're able to
• 56:28
  Andy Nelson: watch it. When I first watched this, it was back when Netflix had their DVD rentals, you know, and I got it through them. I'm sure you can rent it through, like, Scarecrow Video or one of the other places that have, like, DVD rentals and stuff like that. So I'm sure you can still find it out there.
• 56:42
  Pete Wright: But it's just not one that you can just turn on a service and go, and that's a bummer.
• 56:46
  Andy Nelson: Yeah. It really is.
• 56:47
  Pete Wright: Should be seen by more people. It's a really good movie.
• 56:50
  Andy Nelson: Hopefully, you know, some people pick it up. Who knows? Maybe Umbrella will pick it up, and we'll end up on the special features for that one as well.
• 56:57
  Pete Wright: We should tell them. Send a note.
• 57:00
  Andy Nelson: Yeah. Hey. Do this movie just so you could use us.
• 57:02
  Pete Wright: Just for us.
• 57:05
  Andy Nelson: I think it's a fantastic movie. I really enjoyed it both times I've seen it, and it just it's really compelling, beautifully constructed, and really creative. So I'm glad that you picked it for our season this year.
• 57:17
  Pete Wright: Me too. Thanks for making me pick it, Andy.
• 57:22
  Andy Nelson: Alright. Well, that's it for today's conversation. Next week, we will be kicking off our platinum performances, the nineteen fifty best actress Oscar race series. We've already discussed All About Eve back in our Benny Davis series, which had two nominations in this category for Davis and Anne Baxter. Now we're gonna be looking at the other three performances nominated, starting with Judy Holiday in George Q.
• 57:44
  Core's Born Yesterday. We'll be right back for our ratings. I know who you are. I've seen it in your eyes. The way you watch people, the way you remember every detail.
• 58:09
  Eidetic memory. Right? Don't worry. Your secret's safe with me. In fact, I've got a little secret of my own, a way for you to use that gift of yours for something more than just party tricks and parlor games.
• 58:21
  I'm talking about the next reel. It's a podcast, but it's so much more than that. It's a way to delve into the minds of filmmakers to understand the intricacies of their craft. And with your memory, you could be the ultimate film analyst. With the membership to the next reel, you will have access to a whole world of cinematic knowledge.
• 58:40
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• 59:07
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• 59:22
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• 59:41
  Pete Wright: Letterboxd. Andy. What are you gonna even do? Letterboxd.com/thenextreel. That's where you can find all of our shows and all of the reviews that we've done, and it's really great.
• 59:55
  And you should totally go there and be friends with us. And this is where we're gonna assign our hearts and stars.
• 1:00:00
  Andy Nelson: It is. Do you even
• 1:00:02
  Pete Wright: I mean, is there a question? Is this a this is three and a half stars with googles for you?
• 1:00:07
  Andy Nelson: I you know, I'm gonna give it four and a half. That's where I'm sitting. Four and a half.
• 1:00:12
  Pete Wright: Four and a half. Why four and a half?
• 1:00:15
  Andy Nelson: I'll be honest. It went up from four the last time that I watched it. The last the first time I watched it, I gave it four. This time, I'm giving it four and a half. I I don't know.
• 1:00:24
  I just it's like there are there are five star films that I have out there, but in this one, I think, is just a it's a four and a half, and I feel good about that. It's a film I really enjoy.
• 1:00:33
  Pete Wright: Okay. I think this is a this is the first time I'm needing to articulate this. Because for me, I'll just tell you, it's a four. Because I don't know you know, Pete know half stars. Right?
• 1:00:43
  And it's a four, I think, because it's a movie that I can't enjoy to its very fullest. If I could watch this in the proper resolution on the headset, on the big screen, I think it very well could be a five star film. But my watch of this movie, I think, did
• 1:01:04
  Andy Nelson: it no favors. Do you recall the version? Like, was it at least like a one eight five to one aspect ratio? Yes. Was it like a VHS?
• 1:01:14
  Okay. So it was like was it like Blu ray quality, DVD quality? Okay. DVD quality. Okay.
• 1:01:20
  Okay. Yeah. So yeah. And and, you know, we struggled last week when we talked about the invincible six.
• 1:01:27
  Pete Wright: The invincible six. Did is that one of the things that we struggle? Well, it's because this is in VistaVision.
• 1:01:32
  Andy Nelson: Yeah. That's true. Like, that's two three five to one, and we have to watch it in a crappy VHS, you know, one three three to one rip. Yes.
• 1:01:39
  Pete Wright: That's very true. This one, trying to take what I had to a big screen was a pixelated mess. Like, I had to watch this in a window of a window, and it wasn't it it wasn't great. I still the movie carried me through. We did fine together, me and the movie.
• 1:01:55
  I'm But gonna stick with I'm gonna stick with four for now because I think the movie has more for me, but I'm definitely gonna watch it again.
• 1:02:01
  Andy Nelson: World cinema or cinema of the world is the website that I went to, I'll just tell people. They have a lot of, streaming movies, and it I think my version was at least better than yours. Like, I could play it bigger without losing resolution. So at least that played better. But I can totally see that.
• 1:02:22
  I can see that. Like, this is a film. Like, it's a beautifully shot film. It deserves to have, like, a four k restoration so that we can actually see all of the the luster of the the forest and everything.
• 1:02:34
  Pete Wright: Totally.
• 1:02:35
  Andy Nelson: Well, that averages out to 4.25, which rounds up to four and a half and a heart, which you can find on our account on Letterbox at the next reel. You can find me on there at Soda Creek Film, and you can find Pete there at Pete Wright. So what did you think about the aura? We would love to hear your thoughts. Hop into the ShowTalk channel over in our Discord community, where we will be talking about the movie this week.
• 1:02:57
  When
• 1:02:57
  Pete Wright: the movie ends,
• 1:02:58
  Andy Nelson: our conversation begins. Letterbox get it, Andrew. As letterbox always doeth.
• 1:03:20
  Pete Wright: I can I can I do can I
• 1:03:22
  Andy Nelson: do mine first? Please. Please. Let me
• 1:03:25
  Pete Wright: hear it. It it's a five star. It's a
• 1:03:26
  Andy Nelson: five star in heart. I love it.
• 1:03:29
  Pete Wright: From Christian Flores. Hitchcock's greatness lies in the fact that he not only made masterpieces, but also created a form, a mold, and a process for others to make their own. Belinsky evidently studied that mold with taxidermist precision and applied it step by step to create aura, his early and final masterpiece. And if that's so easy, why aren't they stealing from Hitchcock all the time? They are stealing from him, but badly, because they're all stupid.
• 1:04:05
  That strikes me as so funny. It's like a Jack Handy of reviews for this movie. Like, it starts so rich and ends so pointedly.
• 1:04:21
  Andy Nelson: To be fair, a lot of these are in Spanish, and we're doing Google Translate. So it might have lost some of the flowery language.
• 1:04:28
  Pete Wright: It might have lost the the romance.
• 1:04:30
  Andy Nelson: Yeah. Yes.
• 1:04:32
  Pete Wright: What do you got?
• 1:04:33
  Andy Nelson: Well, I also went with a five star at a heart by Crowley who has this to say, amigo. What a week, my friend. Exactly.
• 1:04:44
  Pete Wright: I I didn't even try to read mine because you speak Spanish. I the that last line. That's I mean, that's a that translates. Right?
• 1:04:58
  Andy Nelson: Totally. Totally.
• 1:05:01
  Pete Wright: Yeah. Letterboxed.