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But even if Manchevski is eliding this point, his eerily beautiful film constantly reminds us that there is an irresistible fascination, an absurd and terrible beauty, in the violence of our times. Properly framed--aestheticized--by someone like Aleksander (or Manchevski), meaningless death can be transformed into "meaningful" art, imprinting a nanosecond of hollow pity and empty terror on busy, distant lives. Maybe it's just a viral side effect, but the irony is stunning. And in its allusive, elliptical way, so is this movie.