Review of The Last Circus (2010) by Millo T — 30 Apr 2013

First at all, I must say that the summary in Flixter is incorrect (although I have seen it has been corrected). Although there is a brief introduction in Spanish civil war, most of the film is developed in the last years of Franco dictatorship.

With this environment, it is true that the film is an allegory not only of the Spanish Civil War, but of the two Spains that clasically fight, the left and the right, reflected in the sad and the happy clown in a game of symbolism and dualisms in which colours and icons tell story not through the script (in some moments difficult to believe) but through images.

It is a story of violence and how the hate, passions, past of the characters lead them to dramatically circumstances they can´t escape from (as it happens with the classic topic of two Spains that fight to death).

Exaggerated, baroque, it is a film of excess with a great dose of violence (somehow justified, but which could have been mitigated in some moments but director didn´t want that) which centers on a love triangle (with all what implies), Spanish politics and circus.

So, visually impactant spectacle (in that sense is great, it´s a violent opera from Alex de la Iglesia, in maybe the most surrealistic of his films, which takes topics from Spain of the 60s and also from the American modern or B series cinema or comics in an impossible way), but with times to feel sadness, sorrow and pity for some of the characters (and also hate them), which is not recommended for sensitive souls.

Probably, some people could say it´s similar to Kubrick works such as The clockwork orange and The full metal jacket, as it talks against violence showing a great dose of that: well, I admit the parallelism, but while in Kubrick movies I usually see that the violence is more important than the message itself, here the characters give the movie a human dimension that I think it makes worth to watch and reinforces the message.

Good actings by Carlos Areces and Antonio de la Torre and violent clowns, and Carolina Bang as the center of seduction. Tender secondary characters in the circus. Editing of the movie, intentionally deleting some shots and crossing quickly from one scene to other, make the movie go in an infernal rhythm, but it looses realism and contributes to the irreal atmosphere of the movie (some characters are not believable, but they make their function).

In summary, as a I said, an opera, with all the exaggeration implied, but a strong visual explosion. I am not a great fan of Alex de la Iglesia, but I admit that he has a clear style with great points.

Among them, and in this film, good use of images (great photography in the use of colur) and employing the arquitecture of some famous and recognizable places as a good environment for his films.