The Last Circus (2011)
Average Rating: 6.7/10
Reviews Counted: 30
Fresh: 23 | Rotten: 7
The Last Circus is an uneven but winningly insane blend of hard violence, sex, black humor, and social satire.
Average Rating: 6.2/10
Critic Reviews: 10
Fresh: 8 | Rotten: 2
The Last Circus is an uneven but winningly insane blend of hard violence, sex, black humor, and social satire.
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Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 5,324
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Movie Info
1937, Spain is in the midst of the brutal Spanish Civil War. A "Happy" circus clown is interrupted mid-performance and forcibly recruited by a militia. Still in his costume, he is handed a machete and led into battle against National soldiers, where he single handedly massacres an entire platoon. Fast forward to 1973, the tail end of the Franco regime. Javier, the son of the clown, dreams of following in his father's career footsteps, but has seen too much tragedy in his life - he's simply not
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Cast
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Carlos Areces
Javier -
Antonio de la Torre
Sergio -
Carolina Bang
Natalia -
Manuel Tallafé
Ramiro -
Alejandro Tejerías
Motorista-fantasma (as ... -
Manuel Tejada
Jefe de pista -
Enrique Villén
Andrés -
Gracia Olayo
Sonsoles -
Sancho Gracia
Coronel Salcedo -
Santiago Segura
Padre-Payaso tonto -
Paco Sagárzazu
Anselmo -
Fernando Guillén Cuervo
Capitán miliciano
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All Critics (30) | Top Critics (10) | Fresh (24) | Rotten (7) | DVD (2)
Basque director Álex de la Iglesia's exotic, surreal, hilarious, bloody and utterly explosive grand opus.
Top CriticFrom the far-too-teeming brain of Spanish writer/director Alex de la Iglesia, The Last Circus is a bizarre, surreal, grotesque, fascinating, demanding, disappointing and ultimately exhausting political allegory that plays like a waking nightmare.
For those with a taste for the subversive and outrageous, run, don't walk.
You're left with the vague recollection of an interesting movie you were watching before you got kidnapped and subjected to over an hour of torture porn starring a fat, sadistic clown.
If you like your baroque sex and violence with a side dish of heavy-duty symbolism ... put "The Last Circus" on your must-see list right now.
Take Fellini, Tarantino and "Taxi Driver," throw 'em in a cage with a lion, and you'd get this strange, wild trip.
If Tod Browning, Luis Buñuel, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Pedro Almodóvar and Guillermo del Toro all dropped acid and compared notes, this film might be the result.
This strange film involving four clowns and an acrobat sounds like the setup for a joke, but it turns out not to be very funny.
Quizás una forma - la mejor que encuentra el director, o la que mejor le sale - de decir que el franquismo era una comedia hilarante y una tragedia sanguinaria al mismo tiempo.
a sensational surreal horror/comedy fairy tale co-written and directed by Basque auteur Alex de la Iglesia
Unhinged black comedy that serves, for better or worse, as a heavy-handed allegory of Franco's Spain.
The Last Circus is an unhinged, kaleidoscopic display of a talented filmmaker's fetishes and obsessions.
All in all, it's a visual, aural and visceral kick in the ass.
In much the same way Brian Wilson is said to have locked himself in his room after hearing Sgt. Pepper, every hack slasher-filmmaker in Hollywood should watch The Last Circus and call it quits.
It's not a pretty picture, but it is a hellaciously gorgeous and original film.
The Last Circus is simply amazing. It's the kind of titanic tour de force you don't see in today's cookie cutter cinema.
There's a lusty depravity in play here, and a wild verve informs the film, but it's not particularly coherent, and after time the sloppiness of the technique wears you down more than the little perks of audacity manage to lift you.
The emotional aberration and physical disfigurement, the violence different in feel from the US crew-cut variety, the revenge, the bursts of sick humor, do not meld well here.
Audience Reviews for The Last Circus
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Natalia: Nadie quiere ser gracious. [no one wants to be funny] Tienes que creer me. [you have to believe me] I amo payaso triste...[I love you sad clown]
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- Javier: I'm a sad clown. I'm not funny.
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August 19, 2011:
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Foreign Titles
- Mad Circus - Eine Ballade von Liebe und Tod (DE)
- The Last Circus (Balada triste de trompeta) (UK)
