This is a very strange, long (three hours), and complicated crime story. Complicated not because of the plot (which is simple) but because of the near absence of the stuff of a police procedural: deception, clues, detection, the chase, capture, confession, the victory for justice. If you think of Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment (a detective novel that’s not really about solving a murder but about solving the mysteries of the human soul), you’ll have a pretty good idea of Aurora (a thriller that’s not really about a crime but the human condition—the simple rhythms of our relationships, the petty information exchanged in our daily conversations, our constant comings and goings). The center of the story, which is set in “the outskirts of Bucharest,” is Viorel, who is played by the film’s writer/director, Cristi Puiu. The camera is always close (indeed, too close) to Viorel, a man who is thoroughly unpleasant, always scheming, always up to no good. When people talk to him, their words enter the void of his face. Raskolnikov had a soul; Viorel does not. recommended