Review of The Last Circus (2010) by Joe A — 18 Oct 2011

Last Circus is the bizarre and twisted story of Javier. All Javier wants is to be come a clown like his father. But the sad and unfunny Javier only finds work as the Sad Clown in a local circus in Franco's Spain of 1973.

But, even there, his life falls apart as one tragedy is followed by another as he falls for the acrobat girlfriend of the violent and abusive star clown. Director Alex de la Iglesia weaves this darkly humourous and sometimes extremely violent tale with a very unique and sometimes stunning visual style.

He knows how to use his camera and visuals to maximum effect. He also gets good performances out of his cast. What he falls short in, is knowing when enough is enough and cutting his audience a break.

All the depressing tragic moments and gory interludes start to get tiresome about an hour in and by the time the credits role the audience is too weary to really care how the story ends. And let's just say don't expect a fairy tale ending after all you've sat through.

There are a lot of things I liked about Circus and de la Iglesia's filming style but, it's the overall heavyhandedness of his story telling that wore me out. A unique and interesting, if not flawed film.