I have 493 movies in my Netflix Instant queue. I tend to watch one thing for every five that I add, but now my library is close to being full and I have to make room. So, every Monday I’m going to pick a random movie out of my queue and review the shit out of it. But (like Jesus), I’m also thinking of you and your unwieldy queue and all the movies in it you want to watch but no longer have the time to now that you’ve become so awesome and popular. Let me know what has been gathering digital dust in your Netflix Instant library and I’ll watch that, too. One Monday for you and the next for me and so on. Let’s get to it.
What’s the movie? The Last Circus (2010)
What’s it rated? R for a machete wielding clown in a blonde wig, hate fuckin’ and a bit of the ol’ ultraviolence.
Did people make it? Written and Directed by Álex de la Iglesia. Acted by Carlos Areces, Antonio de la Torre, Carolina Bang, Manuel Tallafé, Alejandro Tejería, Manuel Tejada and Paco Sagarzazu.
What’s it like in one sentence? Angry, angry clowns.
Why did you watch it? Gabe T dropped the word masterpiece and I haven’t seen too many of those this year, so…
What’s it about in one paragraph? I don’t know, what is a poem about? Or a flower? Actually, it’s about a third generation sad clown who joins a circus, only to fall in love with the beautiful acrobat and be terrorized by her boyfriend, the psychopathic happy clown. As the battle of one-upsmanship escalates to dizzying heights, it becomes readily apparent that only one clown can survive and whoever can be the most brutal will probably take the prize.
Yeah, this image won't fuck me up at all.
Play or remove from my queue? Play this most immediately. This is easily in the top 5 movies I’ve seen this year and if it had come out in 2011 (even though technically it did in the States) it would most assuredly be in my best of the year list come December. The Last Circus isn’t content to just be a thriller or a horror movie, it flits between genres at will without feeling tonally schizophrenic and manages to be completely electrifying, genuinely exciting and soul crushingly romantic while also being hilarious and violent as shit. It’s a mash-up of operatic melodrama with Giallo characteristics, but with elegant performances that never threaten to push the film into histrionics and parody. It’s also one of the best action movies I’ve seen all year and functions as one of the best love stories to come out in many moons, as well. I know i’m just listing awesome things about it, but that’s because I’m afraid to give away too much of the plot for fear of spoiling you. This should be seen as fresh as possible. Especially avoid the trailer if you can because it definitely tries to sell the movie as horror, when in all actuality it gleefully defies characterization and instead becomes something so profoundly original you’ll find yourself glowing afterwords.
In Spain (where the film was made) The Last Circus’real title is Balada Triste de Trompeta. Translated that means Sad Trumpet Ballad, which is a perfect name for the film. The film is a ballad and almost feels like a legend that you’re getting to hear for the first time but that’s passed through so many people that it’s warped into something completely different. Like the love triangle between the beautiful woman, the fat clown and the crazy clown was real, but every single detail has been embellished over thousands of tellings to the point of unrecognizability. That might not be a word. You get what I mean. There is something indefinable about watching a movie that feels so different from the normal shit you find yourself in front of, that feels like you’ve discovered a secret everyone should know except I don’t want to keep this one to myself.
The only other film by director Álex de la Iglesia I’ve caught was The Oxford Murders with Elijah Wood and John Hurt. I thought that one was a mediocre movie with some truly wonderful moments of batshit insanity, but still, it feels completely different than The Last Circus. If de la Iglesia continues to make films more like Circus and less like Oxford (his first English language film) then we’ll have someone with the eye of Scorsese and the camera movements of Jackson combined with the genre disobedience of Tarantino and the seemingly effortless swagger of Fincher. He’s a hybrid of all of his influences while being completely himself and never aping any of their styles. I have no doubt in my mind that within 10 years de la Iglesia will be widely considered one of the planet’s finest filmmakers.
I still haven’t seen Martha Marcy May Marlene or Take Shelter or a few of the other highly acclaimed films of the year yet, but this is just as good as the other films at the top of my list this year like Drive, Attack the Block, Hanna and Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Obviously it has been a great year for genre entertainment and with The Last Circus it becomes one of the best.
As Telly Savalas looked on benevolently, the Suicide Girl felt loved and watched over and promised to stop cutting herself first thing in the morning.
Do you have a favorite line? There wasn’t a single word in this film that wasn’t my favorite. From midget-hating clowns to depressed elephant tamers to psychotic naked fat dudes running though the forest, there’s not a lot to find fault in with this film.
Do you have an interesting fun-fact? I thought it was pretty cool that the director Alex de la Iglesia did some voice acing for the Spanish language translation of The Incredibles. What a sweet job that would have been.
What does Netflix say I’d like if I like this? Maestros (sounds like a nice little robbery film), I Saw the Devil (The Last Circus is on par with this film in regards to being fucking incredible), H6 (been in my queue for about a year. Any recommendations?), Night Watch (extremely fun, but frustratingly hollow on repeat viewings) and The Baby’s Room (Alex de la Iglesia film!! I’m gonna watch this right now).
What does Jared say I’d like if I like this? Masterpieces. Honestly, if it reminded me of anything it reminded me of the first time I saw Reservoir Dogs or Seven or Fight Club. It made me feel like I saw something new and special that I would be revisiting for the rest of my life.
"YES! I WOULD LIKE SOME FRIES, COCK SMOOCH! ALL THE FRIES!
What is Netflix’s best guess for Jared? 3.3
What is Jared’s best guess for Jared? 4.5
Can you link to the movie? I sure can!
Any last thoughts? The one drawback I have with this column is that it is designed to tell you whether or not to watch something in your queue without giving an in-depth review of the movie, so as to avoid spoilers. Do you guys prefer Crossing Streams avoiding the heavy analysis in favor of being able to watch the film yourselves without outside influence, or would you rather these be more critical and incisive? I had so much I wanted to talk about but it just doesn’t fit the scope of the column. BTW: The only thing I didn’t like about this movie was one bad special effect in the last 10 minutes. Otherwise, I would be hard pressed to find anything that didn’t please me greatly.
Did you watch anything else this week? I watched 13 Ghosts for the first time in 10 years and it was a lot worse than I remembered. I tried to watch the pilot of Grimm and decided life was too short. I also watched Trailer Park Boys with my parents on Thanksgiving which was surreal and also slightly perfect.
Next Week? Highway to Hell starring Chad Lowe and Kristy Swanson and featuring Gilbert Gottfried as Hitler? I think so. What say you?
I mean, it looks consensual and all, but I still don't really think I approve of whatever the fuck that is.
10 comments
A dual Uzi-wielding fat midget clown in a pope hat? Trapeze artistry with a beaming Telly Savalas as a backdrop? If the movie is half as great as the screenshots, it’ll be a masterpiece. BTW, I think you’re doing a good job with these Netflix reviews, not in-depth critical analyses but enough to pique interest in under-the-radar movies like this and Altered and fair warning on crap with Cuba Gooding and Val Kilmer in it. There’s so much stuff crowding my queue that its nice to have this little weekly feature to help me out when I get indecisive about what to watch.
I look forward to this column every week, much for the same reasons as Rockatansky. There’ just too much in my queue and getting a ringing endorsement like the one above gives me something to look forward to as opposed to randomly picking something to watch. Also, I agree that I enjoy getting the recommendation, but not the full blown review. Maybe there good be a follow-up review the following week? Either way, keep up the good work and thanks.
Jared, great column as always. As for your question regarding the content, I think you should both avoid spoilers but also dive in deep with analysis and critique later on in. Maybe, the first part of the column could be what you did here, and then the second part of the column you could post a “spoilery” review (complete with warning, of course) that breaks it down with more depth. I know that some movies I might not see, so selfishly I would like to see some deeper analysis and maybe that would change my mind. However, this would probably create more work than you care to be doing. Either way, I’m definitely gonna check this one out as soon as possible.
I didn’t read ZJwhite’s comment until now, but he is on to something there.
Sweet recommendation. If you’re going on a Alex de la Inglesia kick, definitely check out Day of the Beast.
ZJWhite’s suggestion would be great.
Thank you guys very much for the responses, I really appreciate it. I think I will add a section to each review where I add a bit of depth to the previous weeks review, as a follow up to it and to give everyone a week to watch it. So next week for my Highway to Hell review, there will be a spot for us to go a little nutty about Last Circus.
Great movie and great writing, Jared. I´ll like to add a few things, that may not be obvious to a non spanish viewer.
SPOILER(ISH) CONTENT AHEAD: The movie really is about spanish political history of the last century. The fat (or sad) clown is the Left, the crazy (or stupid, in the original) clown is the Right. As anybody who lived through the dictatorship of Franco in Spain would inmediately recognize this, as is clear from the credits (are they amazing or what!?!?) what De La Iglesia is aiming for.
In the period of the movie (post civil war) all Spain was living in a demented circus ruled by a bullish, insane “clown”. As you can see in the movie, the circus performers are scred shitless of the guy, but they smile his jokes and stand by him, beacuse he puts bread on the table. The new guy is the son of a clown who fought for the losing side in the war, and years later takes his father mantle, so to speak.
The most complex character is the girl (besides being De la Iglesia´s real life wife!), she is presented as really enjoying the abuse, but at the same time flirting with the new guy. She, more than anybody else in the movie, IS Spain.
Sorry for the long post, but I guess the movie plays on a whole different level of greatness when one knows all the background.
A few random things: througout the movie the key events that shaped spanish history are depicted, in a twisted way:
-The guy who gets his hand bitten is Franco, and there was really a supposed “hunting accident” where the dictator hurt his hand, that was never really explained.
-The bishop/clown suit is an incredible jab at the spanish church accomplice of a goverment that commited hundreds of summary executions and human rights violations.
-The guy in the exploding car was Carrero Blanco, the first victim of Spain´s recently (let´s hope) dismantled terrorist group, E.T.A…The balls of De La Iglesia to have the clown ask the terrorists “And what Circus do you come from?, when he actually lives in ETA´s hometown, are off the scale!
-There is a shitload of little details like these, that really speak to spanish people but need a little bit of explanation, and the thing with the big cross (Valle de los Caidos) is too complex, but just know that is a real place, built by the defeated soldiers of the war and is where Franco´s rests are buried.
The central meaning of the movie is that left/right, can be all the same, and today the clowns that rule over us are exchangeable…equally deformed, violent, pathetic and bat-shit insane.
One last thing: Alex de la Iglesia´s first movies where as amazing as this, he then went into a bit of a Blah period, but I cannot recommend enough these movies:
El Dia De La Bestia: a priest discovers the exact date and location of the birth of the antichrist, and joins a heavy metal guy (Santiago Segura, the machete clown) and a T.V psychic charlatan (dont ask) to contact the Devil and kill the baby before is born.
Accion Mutante: In the future there is an elite of beautiful, perfect bodies that rule, but there is an underground group of deformed, paraplegic, blind, and ugly people that bombs gyms, beauty parlors, etc. guided by Antonio Resines, a bad-ass motherfucker if there ever was one.
Crimen Ferpecto: A hitchcock love letter, if Hitch was completely deranged. This movie is quite recent and marked the phoenix like rise of De L Iglesia from his “Oxford” shitty period
That´s it, thank you for your time and let us know what your thougths are if you check these movies.
You just fucking blew my mind, man. Thanks you for completely illuminating me on the depth of this film. Do you mind if i reprint some of this in next weeks column?
It will be an honour! Please use whatever you want (please check the spelling, as English is not my first language!) but in exchange, promise that you will look out for “El Dia de la Bestia”…Deal? Thanks for all the many hours of great reading, and keep up the great work!
You can provide as much detailed analysis as you want to. I routinely save any review-type articles to read after I see the flick in question anyhow, and skim through ahead of time to get the gist of whether or not it’s a “yay” or “nay”, which you provide pretty succinctly. So yes, detailed critical analysis, spoilers be damned, and let the reader sort it out. ;-P
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