#Hooptober9

💀 NUMBER THIRTY SIX 💀
💀 EXTRA CREDIT FOR MANIACS 💀

"The Last Circus" (2010)
* dir: Álex de la Iglesia
* Thriller / Comedy / Everybody Loves A Clown (So Why Don't You)
[ ★★★★ / ★★★★★ ]

This is my first introduction to the wild and varied film world of Álex de la Iglesia, and I'll say this for sure: the man can shoot the hell out of a motion picture. This thing never looks anything less than absolutely gorgeous, while still retaining a sense of tactile griminess that grounds everything in a really remarkable way even as the plot spirals further and further out of control. Visceral, wonderfully realized stuff.

It's also quite funny! Especially for being a politically motivated story about a bloody and exceedingly violent love triangle that begins during the Spanish Civil War and ends with a direct "North By Northwest" visual reference that frames several of its key scenes against and amongst actual moments in Spain's tumultuous semi-recent history (including the assassination of Prime Minister Luis Carrero Blanco and an unexpectedly hilarious sequence involving Francisco Franco out on a bird hunt). And it's all brought to life by one of the most game and ceaselessly committed film casts I think I've ever seen. They really GO for it here, and I don't know if I would have been half as engaged in this thing if it wasn't for the superb ensemble on display.

A relentless retributionist nightmare dressed up in the costume of a dreamlike fairy tale. Equal parts compellingly grotesque, disarmingly moving and singularly bizarre. Excellent.