Balada triste de trompeta (2010)

	Also Known As: The Last Circus
	Year of first release: 2010
	Director: Alex de la Iglesia (800 Balas, El Crimen Ferpecto, The Oxford Crimes)
	Actors: Carlos Areces (Extraterrestrial, Lobos de Arga), Antonio de la Torre (Volver), Carolina Bang (Pluto B.R.B. Nero TV-series)
	Country: E
	Genre: Comedy, Drama, Horror
	Conditions of visioning: 25.03.2013, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: Issued of a clown family and having suffered during the civil war times, Javier (Areces) joins a circus as sad clown once in his thirties.
Review: I like the work from Alex de la Iglesia, from El Dia de la Bestia to The Oxford Murders via El Crimen Ferpecto and my favorite 800 Balas. In Balade Trista de Trompeta we can recognize his trademark again: a band of colorful characters, crude humour, fast-paced crazy action. But I found this movie actually closer to one of his first movies: Accion Mutante, rather that the work quoted above, because it looks cheaper, more experimental and the structure is more chaotic. Actually it starts wildly with the circus crew forced to fight and slay enemies in the civil war, then it quiets down and we understand the purpose of the story. Unfortunately in the last half hour it gets crazy again and we get detached from those characters that were otherwise touching. A strong reference for this movie is obviously Santa Sangre, another crazy circus movie by Alexandro Jodorowski. The best to remember from this Balada Triste de Trompeta is the psychological transformation that the main character undergoes, and that is very well played. Throughout the movie we see him unwillingly present at some major events of Spanish recent history, like the assassination of the prime minister Luis Carrero in 1973, a bit like in Forrest Gump. So a bit of dissapointement from this movie, but I am still eager to watch the most recent feature from Alex de la Iglesia Witching and Bitching, and am still trying to find his TV-series Pluto B.R.B. Nero also starring his wife and muse Carolina Bang, but it is currently only available in spanish without subtitles.
Rating: 5 /10