Aegri Somnia (2008) User Reviews

Really Good Lighting

[timothygartin · 5/10 · 13 March 2020]

This movie does an amazing job creating moody scenes. The director is great at using lighting effectively in a variety of different ways.

That said, everything else is weak. The acting is average. The scenes aren't paced very well. The story is too dramatic and slow. None of these factors are terrible, but they are certainly average.

Low-budget art-house = art...shack?

[rooprect · 12 October 2015]

There are several movies that prove to us that low-budget does not always mean bad. By "low-budget" I'm referring to films that were made for $100,000 or less (compared to a typical Hollywood blockbuster's $100 million). "Aegri Somnia" is one of them.

About the title of my review, if the genre "arthouse" makes you cringe, then this film probably isn't for you. Long & wordless (yet beautifully shot) scenes, disorienting edits, unconventional camera angles & effects, and deliberately 2-dimentional characters populate this film from start to finish. But in case you didn't guess by the title of the film, Latin for "a sick man's dreams", the presentation is absolutely perfect for what the movie intends to show us.

The story is about "Edgar", a socially awkward misfit whose station in life is something akin to Tom Hanks in "Joe Versus the Volcano" or Jonathan Pryce in "Brazil", except that Edgar makes those guys look like captains of the football team. Stuck in a lousy job, lousy marriage, dreary existence, and worst of all, a psychological hell that leaves him maladjusted, maladroit and malcontent, Edgar begins to come apart at the seams. Particularly, it's the psychological hell that begins to take hold of him as bizarre tragic events further complicate matters.

If this theme brings to mind other low-budget masterpieces like "Pi", "Ink" or my favorite undiscovered gem "Dark Mind", then you're on the right track. Very stylish and very cryptic, "Aegri Somnia" is a real treat for fans of dark, psychological surrealism. It has a visual style of its own, shown mostly in black & white with excellent, and I mean EXCELLENT lighting, a lot like the film-noir-ish classics of the last century like Orson Welles' "Touch of Evil", "Macbeth", "The Trial" or even Fritz Lang's "Metropolis". These are films that use the extreme, exaggerated visual tricks that would define the film noir genre (itself the result of creative low-budget productions) but coupled with some grand sets and spectacular cinematography to break up the claustrophobia.

On that note, my only real gripe, through no fault of the director & filmmakers, is that the grand approach led me to expect more than the budget would allow. The result was a little distracting. I'll give you an example. The opening scene shows Edgar walking through an enormous, bleak dreamscape with stark, brooding architecture and machinery in league with "Metropolis", but the use of mid-grade digital cameras (instead of jillion dollar Hollywood equipment) kept making me think it looked a little bit off. Note to any filmmakers out there: maybe presenting the final product at 24 fps (slower film speed) would make it look more dreamy instead of 30/60 fps crisp digital? But who cares, as an artistic piece, "Aegri Somnia" delivers. If you enjoyed any of the films I mentioned in my review, definitely give "Aegri Somnia" a spin. I guarantee you won't fall asleep. Heh heh. OK that was lame.

Moody Garbage

[artpf · 1/10 · 22 November 2013]

Edgar is living in the shadow of his wife's sudden death.

Haunted by vivid hallucinations and a faceless city threatening to swallow him whole, Edgar's world begins to unravel as his nightmares become a reality and Edgar is left with a choice: prison or paradise.

Horrible actors and filmed in B&W. Is that the new color? Actually color is used later but it's a dumb convention.

Slow moving exposition that becomes annoying. The scenes seem to be set up to be moody but there is no good reason except that the director wants to show you he can set a moody scene. Dumb.

The real issue with this film besides the unbearably bad acting, the horrible directing is the absurdly poor writing. There is virtually no real story. Pass this one by like a rat on hot concrete.

PRISON OR PARADISE

[nogodnomasters · 7/10 · 7 December 2018]

Aegri Somnia is Latin for "troubled dreams." The Latin is used to give us an old world connection to religious concepts. The film is art and theme driven. Reality is in black and white and dreams are in color...mostly. The film centers around Edgar, an introvert who is socially inept. He listens to the voices in his head that will guide him to paradise. People around him die, of which they all had it coming. He sees them dieing in his dreams.

The black and white footage as well as the sound track and background "stuff" gave me flashbacks to "Eraser Head." The film is not hard to figure out and the end which explains things should not be a surprise. Not a bad stoner film either for those who have "isolation addiction."

Guide: F-bomb. Centerfold nudity.