Sadly Over-hyped

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

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.

Beautifully rendered and splendidly unique. There is almost no way to fully describe it; but THE LAST CIRCUS is a love it or hate it movie. I loved it.The performances are top notch; the script is sharp; every scene is unpredictable, the way a high wire trapeze act is.Perhaps I'm generalizing too much, but I don't want to add even a specter of a spoiler. I grabs you from the first frame and never lets go. The director never tinkers with emotions, he plays them out grandly with a magnificent cast - like a juggler or a knife thrower. The circus itself is a perfect metaphor.Buy it see it, but with this caveat - the film is grotesque and quite gory, but not for exploitation. You're not being snookered. Buckle up for one of the greatest shows on earth.

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.

Laugh clown killA sad clown falls in love with a starlet – and challenges her misogynistic lover in post-war Spain.The logline above is far too simplistic for this multi-genre and multi-thematic film. Written and directed by Álex de la Iglesia, best known in the US for his 2008 feature THE OXFORD MURDERS, brings us a monster mix of mayhem that spans from the Spanish Civil War to 1973. Sort of like Tim Burton on a lot more acid.Soft-spoken Javier (Carlos Areces) survives the war to become a sad clown in a low budget circus. In the show, he plays second banana to Sergio (Antonio de la Torre), the happy clown who is ultra-hostile off stage and keeps the other performers walking on edge due to sudden tirades and extreme violence. His lover is the lithe Natalia (Carolina Bang) torn between Sergio's rage and the safety of Javier. Okay, that sounds like straightforward romance plot number one – but it doesn't come close. This tale engages war, politics, drama, comedy, horror and romance while exploring themes regarding obsession, response to trauma, politically induced Frankensteinian creations, and the failure of dreams within a fascist state. Fascism, whether it is Franco's or Sergio's, is the running thread that holds this wild fantasy together.Kiko de la Rica is the photographic genius that created one amazingly vivid cinematographic ride that even in the daylight never seems pristine or dreamy enough. The world is always tainted – darkened – by something from the edges as well as within the hearts of the characters, and his skill brings this to light frame after frame. The acting is absolutely brilliant and riveting, with Areces and de la Torre going toe to toe at every turn. I can only imagine how mind-numbingly drained the performances had left them. Then again, how could any actor in the film not embrace the quirky and enigmatic characters created by Iglesias? None of the characters were run of the mill or plucked off the shelf like so much Hollywood drek.However, though this falls under the realm of horror, I sincerely doubt many fans of the genre would embrace the movie. This is not because horror aficionados are stupid and only adore slasher films, but this is one of those movies that could easily make someone question the very definition of the genre. And with a multi-faceted feature such as this, horror plays a role, like a character, and does not permeate the tale.Regardless, there's something for everyone in THE LAST CIRCUS, and if you like freaky films that defy description, you should enjoy this riveting feature.