The Last Circus (2010)
A tremendous trailer that leads to an inventive, but ultimately disappointing film, The Last Circus is the latest exercise in cinematic excess from Basque director Alex de la Iglesia. The story follows a bunch of clowns – some sad, some happy – working under the big top in Madrid. A sad clown (Carlos Areces) falls for a happy (but abusive) clown’s girlfriend – a stunning trapeze artist – and the table is set for a surreal fight to the death for her love. If that sounds a little off-the-wall, you don’t know the half of it.
The Last Circus is a grotesquely-violent montage of big shoes, blood splatters and pancake makeup and while its gorgeous cinematography and bizarre storyline is certainly intriguing, it was just too grungy and visceral for my tastes at times. It’s billed as a comedy-horror and there are definitely some very funny moments of jet-black humour interspersed throughout, but the horror almost overwhelms them. The problem for me might have been mood… but I’m not all that interested in revisiting it either, at least not yet. The reason I chose to write about it was that I may have got it all wrong and The Last Circus is a cult gem that will ultimately find the audience it was meant for. I loved Iglesia’s 2005 black comedy Crimen ferpecto (Ferpect Crime). It was funny, rude, jarring and weird – all adjectives that could be applied to The Last Circus as well.
Mixed feelings about this one. Anyone else have a take on it?
will certainly comment whenever the FBEs normal-ray copy arrives…
It arrived on Friday and I have to go and fix whatever your 2livecrew fucked up with the computers on the weekend, so I’ll bring it with.
I’d totally rent that. The trailer looks fantastic. A clown in a bank firing off two machine guns? Gimme!
It is clearly a second-bottle-of-wine movie though.
I’m kind of with you. Seeing this at TIFF a few years ago it was a welcome retreat from the regular fare. The violence is crazy and unexpected, and so extreme at parts one is forced to wince or laugh in discomfort. It’s extreme nature (and use of clowns) is the only thing that really keeps it interesting, which doesn’t make it too rewarding. I also found the characters pretty unsympathetic which eliminated any interest I had in how things unfolded by the final climax. It has a solid first hour or so that is impossible to ignore, but by the end, I didn’t really care. Still, I might recommend it to people looking for some surface entertainment who want something different, and to people afraid of clowns.