Circuses still travel, even if the idea seems to belong to a previous century. One such low-rent barnstorming troupe is profiled in “Circo,” a seemingly casual but affecting documentary.
The circus in question is called Circo Mexico, a grand name for a somewhat tattered outfit.
Moving
around Mexico with a few trucks, some large animals and a small crew, Circo Mexico sets up in a dusty field in a town and runs through its modest routines for a couple of days, then takes off for the next dusty field in the next town.
The circus chief is Tino Ponce, who was born into this world. His grandfather once ran a big circus and divided his holdings among his four sons. Tino’s parents still travel with Circo Mexico, passing out free tickets to kids and bad life advice to their two sons.
It’s hard to know which is more compelling in this movie: the faded tinsel of the circus life or the difficult personal feelings of the Ponce family.
On the latter score, Tino’s wife is beginning to grow weary of the fact that their four children are essentially full-time, unpaid laborers; circus kids are expected to do everything, from pounding stakes into the ground for the big-top tent to dangling above the sawdust in a trapeze act.
Tino’s brother, a backward fellow who rides a motorcycle inside a round steel cage called the “Globe of Death” (something cribbed from an old Elvis movie, possibly), has his devotion to the circus threatened when he enters his first romantic relationship.
The costumes look cheap and the props are scratched, which is all part of the funky appeal of this strangely outmoded practice.
It’s hard to imagine a small-time circus thriving in the 21st century, with all the glitzier, faster forms of entertainment at hand, but maybe in a place like rural Mexico it still carries a whiff of glamour.
The glamour has worn off for the Ponce family. First-time filmmaker Aaron Shock obviously got close to the family, who share their personal lives in plain, undramatic detail. Their undramatic style might work against “Circo” generating a lot of excitement, but its 75 minutes gather a real poignancy, as the movie goes along and the circus folk pack up their stuff and trudge off to the next stop.
“Circo” ½
A documentary look at a small-time circus in Mexico, run by a family for many years but beginning to fray around the edges. The faded magic of the circus is part of the appeal, but so is filmmaker Aaron Shock’s ability to gather the most personal material on camera from the different generations of the family. In Spanish, with English subtitles.
Rated: Not rated; probably PG-13 for subject matter
Showing: Varsity
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