The Last Circus (2011)

Really Surprised!

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

This movie was sort of odd but in an enjoyable way. There was something disturbingly unique about this love story. And you shouldn't get deterred by the fact that it is a Spanish movie.The story is about a clown coming to stay with a circus. Here he is treated as an outsider, and he quickly comes to fall for a young performer in the circus who is in a brutal and violent relationship with another clown who is more than fond of alcohol.This is not your average horror comedy, because the story in "The Last Circus" (aka "Balada triste de trompeta") was fairly well-constructed, but even more so because of the bizarre and outrageous characters. And there is a very nice pace to the storytelling.The movie is dark and gritty, which really helps to set the great atmosphere that permeates the entire movie.However, I don't think that "The Last Circus" is the type of movie that you will watch more than once. But it should be said that it is well-worth your time to sit down and watch it at least once.

My first reaction with my half Spanish was "es una pelicula loca y enferma". I am not sure if these phrases have the same meaning with "such a sick and crazy movie". I've just directly translated from English. However, I think that this story is one of a kind. Usually, in movies starring clowns have interesting topics and stream. They are not a sign of "fun" and "happines". On the contrary, they are the indicators of the emotions of horror and dread. They have psychological problems - this is what scriptwriters want to do: conflict among emotions. As an example, Joker is the most known clown character and also, the movie "It" of Stephen King supports my argument. However, I've never seen before such a love triangle that includes two "sick" clowns. I know that clowns usually kill people but this "sad clown" and "happy clown" conflict was created in an interesting atmosphere with enough support of filming details. That's another point that I loved about this movie, the usage of camera and lighting were in harmony with the situation. I totally recommend this movie as a Spanish learner and a Spanish movie lover.

Director Alex de la Iglesia gets high marks for his studying of Fellini's films and being able to translate this via his talent into a exciting-to-watch visual style. But then we have the context of the movie's story, which depicts the sadistic-masochistic yearnings of a middle-aged self-abuser, as the movie slips into a cauldron of blood, cruelty and gore. The tradition of Bunuel continues though. That is, the scrutiny of Spain's society;late thirties to the seventies, deformed by an oppressive Catholic-inspired, fascistic and long lived government. Missing is any of the humanity that Bunuel and Fellini imbued some or all of their stories with. I found this movie quite disgusting to experience.

In 1937 a circus clown is drafted into battle against fascist forces in Spain. He wears his full clown outfit as he wades through the enemy soldiers hacking at them with a machete. Years later in 1973, his son carries on the family tradition and becomes a clown too – the Sad Clown. In the circus he works at he comes into contact with the sociopath Smiling Clown and his beautiful girlfriend, Natalia, the trapeze artist. Very soon, violent jealousies erupt between the clowns and a maelstrom of insane violence ensues.It's difficult to say if there is an underlying message in The Last Circus. The Spanish Civil War is a backdrop, as is Franco's Spain but to be perfectly honest, if there is a message, it's lost in the mayhem. But this doesn't matter because the movie works best if you take it at face value. It's a Felliniesque melodrama about violent clowns fighting over a gorgeous girl. The tone of the film alternates radically and without warning between funny and vicious. Sometimes they overlap, like when the Smiling Clown beats the Sad Clown to a pulp with a fairground hammer, in doing so hitting the winning bell; he is dragged away from the battered body of his victim while shouting 'I want my teddy!'. This sort of juxtaposing of extreme violence with silly comedy is something that happens throughout The Last Circus and may very well leave some viewers baffled. But for fans of cult cinema this approach should not be much of a problem I would venture. The Last Circus does seem to show again that when it comes to surrealism, the Spanish sure know how to deliver. From the start this is evident. In the incredibly great opening credit sequence we have military style drums hammering away while we are bombarded with an over the top array of bewildering imagery – from black and white photographs of Civil War Spain, to a still of Raquel Welch in One Million Years B.C. juxtaposed immediately with a gruesome shot from the Italian gore-fest Cannibal Holocaust. It's one of the most arresting credit sequences I can ever remember seeing – thematically it's difficult to say what it means but it terms of visual artistry it's terrific.Acting personnel all do excellent work in bizarre roles. But special notice needs to be made for Carolina Bang for also being quite ridiculously attractive throughout – it's quite easy to see why she has driven these psychopathic clowns to such crazed distraction. Director Álex de la Iglesia has to be given credit too for bringing all this madness to the screen with such style and verve. He has created a film here that in all honesty is very difficult to categorise in terms of genre – there's a little bit of war, quite a lot of comedy, a good deal of melodrama and a host of extreme gruesomeness; but it does not fit into any one genre very well at all, in truth this is one of the things that makes it good. If I had a criticism it would be that the final third loses a little impetus but that's mainly because the opening two thirds is so wild and strong. The Last Circus comes highly recommended for fans of psychotronic cinema.