I've been really excited about this movie, and haven't seen much hype about it since the trailer release so I thought I'd review it myself.
I'm not even going to try to attempt to give a plot synopsis. The most important aspect of this movie is a love triangle between a sad clown, a happy (yet sadistic) clown, and masochistic attention seeking woman (the happy clown's wife). This is the lone coherent plot thread throughout the series of crazy images and happenings in the film.
The most interesting aspect of the movie is that of the woman enjoying torturing the sad clown by flirting with him endlessly. She wants him to love her, (which isn't hard to get him to do considering that the sad clown is so fat and hopeless) however she has absolutely no interest in reciprocating. When he pursues her she resists, when he pulls back she flirts and teases again. She returns to her husband over and over again, because the sad clown can't satisfy her sexually. She can't can't be happy with her husband because he abuses her.
Is this just pure misogyny or some sort of social or politcal commentary? I have no way of telling. The beginning of the movie is set in the Spanish civil war. It's something I have no knowledge of and so I'm guessing any political commentary this film may have will be lost on an American audience. I really can't say I understood any of this movie, yet I would personally rather watch a movie and not understand any of it than watch something that has already been done to death.
Most genre films have one act, and the first act gives the rational for everything that happens for the rest of the movie. This movie has a minimum of 5 acts, none of which didn't appear to have much of a rational flow to them. This will probably turn off a lot a viewers.
When you are watching a movie like this, which seems to be a parade of nonsensical and illogical events, the sense of direction of the film becomes lost, and frustrating to follow. Not that this is a bad thing. In a movie that is purposely illogical and directionless I think the viewer needs something tangible to hold on to, and the love triangle provides enough stability that the movie doesn't entirely run off the rails, and the imagery in the movie was strong enough to keep me interested.
On the downside this movie was marketed as a crazy exploitation film and it really isn't. It's more of a twisted love story. There is sex a violence to be had, but the movie is prudish compared to the intentional sleaze of a true exploitation film.
On the upside this is the most original movie I've seen all year, and the acting is very solid. It follows on the heels of several extremely strong foreign releases such as Attack the Block, Troll Hunter, and I saw the Devil, and solidifies my opinion that if you really care about finding all the best horror movies than you will have to get used to watch a lot of foreign movies.
I give The Last Circus a solid "B" for it's originality, imagery, and strong performances.
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