What holds Aurora Borealis together is the complex and very realistic relationships between the characters.
Comment
07/10/07
Aurora Borealis (2006)
68 %
Reviews Counted: 37 Fresh: 25 Rotten:12 Average Rating: 6.2/10
Consensus:
Deeply reminiscent of other, better films, Aurora Borealis nonetheless succeeds on the strength of winning performances from Sutherland and Jackson.
Runtime: 1 hr 50 mins
Synopsis: TV star Joshua Jackson (DAWSON'S CREEK) comes into his own in this well-crafted indie. He plays Duncan, the angry loser of his rundown Minneapolis neighborhood, whose inability to keep a job stems from losing his father 10 years before. He makes ends meet by loaning his apartment out to his... [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Joshua Jackson, Donald Sutherland, Juliette Lewis, Louise Fletcher, Steven Pasquale
Director: James Burke
Screenwriter: Brent Boyd
Producer: Rick Bieber, Scott Disharon, Jayne A. Larson, Sherri Saito
Composer: Mychael Danna
Screenwriter: Brent Boyd
Producer: Rick Bieber, Scott Disharon, Jayne A. Larson, Sherri Saito
Composer: Mychael Danna
Reviews
What looks like a goopy, disease-of-the-week movie about Alzheimer's turns out to be a surprisingly well crafted, beautifully acted movie.
05/10/07
[A] tough, sweet and buoyantly funny drama about how we all grow up in different ways and on different timetables.
03/01/07
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10/30/06
Top Critic
Seems designed to reward Jackson with his biggest adult part to date, though it doesn't give the Vancouver, B.C., native a lot to work with.
10/06/06
Good Will Hunting but in the Midwest and minus the tortured math genius, psychological breakthroughs, and convincing local color.
10/06/06
The script offers neither character revelations nor plot twists. It unfolds by the numbers, like the product of an amateur screenwriter's salon.
10/05/06
A fair-to-middling coming-of-age tale [is] played by a stellar cast in an unusual locale [but] never escapes seeming rather ordinary.
10/02/06
Every bromide, plot twist and stock character arrives right on time and, to give director James Burke his due, function as well as they ever have.
09/29/06
Boyd's observant script (Minneapolis guy: 'St. What?' Kate: 'St. Paul. It's on the other side of the river.') and fine acting smooth over most of the rough edges.
09/28/06
A sensitive and touching story about a distressed family and the emotional glue that holds it together.
09/28/06
Sutherland is outstanding as a fine man devastated by time and disease.
09/26/06
Predictable but not preachy, its likeable types quirky and familiar, 'Aurora Borealis' is a good if undemanding watch.
09/22/06
Most successful in capturing the emotional elements of its story, the film relies on its excellent cast to balance out sketchily drawn characters and the unfortunate obviousness of its plot.
09/21/06
Top Critic
Aurora Borealis -- yes, that title eventually comes home to roost -- doesn't offend in any way, but it's so self-consciously quaint, so unwaveringly 'nice,' that you nearly wish it did.
09/21/06
Juliette Lewis makes Aurora Borealis into a funnier, richer, more powerful film than it has any reason to be.
09/20/06
The real surprise here is Lewis, who seems to have finally hit on a role that balances her usual flakiness with smarts and an offbeat poignancy, and she delivers the strongest work of her adult career.
09/15/06
Fine acting distinguishes Aurora Borealis, a moderately affecting seriocomic character study marred by a weak, tidily resolved third act.
09/15/06
Aurora Borealis is Duncan's story, and it's picked up some of his bad habits; like him, it's not sure what it wants to be.
09/15/06
Set in dead-of-winter Minneapolis, a ready-made metaphor for (groan, shiver) the chill in Duncan's heart, the movie tells how life warms up when he goes to work at a nursing home.
09/15/06
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