Alex De La Iglesia's nutso tragedy is actually called A Sad Trumpet Ballad. It's quite frustrating the way films get retitled for foreign release, because the trumpet plays a pivotal role. And the ballad is beloved by portly, bespectacled sad clown Javier (Carlos Areces), who's following in the oversized footsteps of his father, a clown imprisoned and murdered by the Franco regime. He falls for beautiful acrobat Natalia (Carolina Bang), but his efforts to rescue her from her sadistic boyfriend, happy clown Sergio (Antonio de la Torre), will plunge all three into madness and mayhem.
Coulrophobics should probably give this a miss, especially as both Javier and Sergio indulge in lashings of the old ultra-violence. And while The Last Circus got the Best Director and Best Screenplay thumbs-up from Quentin Tarantino at the Venice Film Festival, there's little self-conscious glee in its genre play. Rather, its grotesqueness is lonely and melancholic; Sergio becomes a Frankenstein-like monster unable to make children laugh, while Javier becomes a cartoonish villain akin to Jack Nicholson's Joker in Batman. But The Last Circus is so sardonic, bizarre and downright incoherent that it's hard to identify with any of its doomed protagonists.
What:
The Last Circus
Where:
At the Spanish Film Festival
Watch the trailer:
Here
Win:
Thanks to the Spanish Film Festival, we have a dbl pass to the opening night screening on Wed May 18! To enter, email to
brisbane.win@rightanglestudio.com.au with your name and postal address with the subject 'If I wasn't a clown, I'd be a murderer'
Australian Competitions Club
