THE LAST CIRCUS

I don't know if anyone else is going to think this song is one of the most passionate things they have ever seen, but it has seriously been haunting my dreams.

I saw a movie called The Last Circus as part of the Spanish Film Festival that is going on right now and it really stood out to me.  It was obviously done as a larger production with more $$$ than the smaller movies being screened, but I really loved the subject matter.  It took the overdone plot of a love triangle and transformed it into something medium rare--both the way I like my movies and my meat.  Amongst the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War and the end of the Franco regime, a story unfolds of a boy who wants to follow in the footsteps of his father to be a successful clown.  Although he isn't funny, he joins a circus as the sad clown where he falls in love with an acrobat.  Enter: Natalie.  Similar to the dynamic of Shelly and Leo in Twin Peaks, Natalie and the "happy clown" (ironically) of the circus are involved and she is constantly abused mentally and physically by him.  The sad clown becomes more than determined, obsessed really, to "save" her from the happy clown's evil ways.  

The cuts hit you with a one, two punch before you can even realize what's coming.  Next thing you know the clowns are wielding machine guns and the bloodiest of battles ensue.  The movie manages to walk a fine line of being as violent as humanely possible while still somehow being quite funny.  This movie is like the love child of Quentin Tarantino, Jean Pierre Jeunet and Tim Burton.  But instead it is from the wild workings of Alex De La Iglesia's twisted mind.  If you don't end up liking it, it is definitely something to talk about.

The movie The Mosquito Net also stood out to me.  Boiling it all down, it was a story of a family growing apart and showing all the ways they each decide to deal with it.  The son ends up having a knack, if you will, for picking up stray animals and bringing them home.  Whereas the parents decide to take out the frustrations they have through their sexuality--both going for people about half their age.  The Mom's sister takes it out on her young daughter, almost to an abusive point: even in one scene literally making her walk on egg shells.  And the grandparents have several failed suicide attempts.  I liked this movie because something about it just seemed like nothing I can say more than, real.  It seemed real.  Mainly performace driven, it also had some beautiful moments.  Basically if you happen to somehow stumble across this movie ever, give it a watch.