Paul Magne Haakonsen 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.

SnoopyStyle In 1937 Madrid, Republican militia conscripts circus performers to fight against the fascist forces. They are overrun and captured. The funny clown tells his son Javier to only be a Sad Clown because there is no happiness. It's 1973. Javier joins a ramshackle circus as a Sad Clown. He falls in love with the wildly beautiful aerial silk acrobat Natalia. Only she's the girlfriend of the volatile possessive owner lead clown Sergio.This is a wild outlandish movie. It's got great stuff but rambling and uneven at times. It opens with a crazy machete wielding clown action scene. That sets up a surreal violent horror but then it turns into something slightly different. It becomes a romantic melodrama with violence. Then the last act turns back into more surreal violent chaos. The changes in the style does hold it back but this is a movie of an original vision.

Aristides-2 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.

lee prew Having watched the trailer and read a few reviews I was looking forward to watching this film. I was impressed with the first section of the film and thought I knew where it was going. Sadly the film lost its way for me quickly after the first act and the plot pretty much disappeared.In no way did I like any of the lead characters and felt no compassion to their plights. The background characters were just as flat as the leads. A few slapstick moments kinda made me think this film could have been a whole lot darker had we actually seen more comedy mixed with horror. The story as it is has more in common with King Kong or The The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and although I understood the backdrop of the civil war at the beginning I have no idea if the rest of the film was supposed to be a clever analogy; nor did I really care. I found it apt that the two main characters go into a haunted house at a fairground as this pretty much summarised the film for me. A scary and interesting looking building at the entrance (with a brief bit of history)then through the door. A few shocks and grotesque moments with no narrative to back them up later and your exiting through a bland swing door. And as with exiting any fairground haunted houses I'm always left feeling I could have spent my time and money better elsewhere. This story had potential, but it would seem that they decided to jump off that particular path and delve into exploring madness, but for some reason not as far as they should have. A well shot film with moments that could have made a great film but sadly floundered and lurched its way to a silly climax.