Buy Artists Under the Big Top: Perplexed on DVD | Mr. Skin's Celebrity Nudity Movie Reviews

Artists Under the Big Top: Perplexed

DVD

More Info

Usually ships in
5-10 days

$26.99 (10% off)
List Price: ~~$29.99~~

When new special editions or price reductions are announced.

From the liner notes

Hannelore Hoger (Lost Honor of Katharina Blum), veteran actress of the New German Cinema, stars as Leni Peickert in Alexander Kluge’s compelling parable about art vs. entertainment, culture vs. commerce.

Leni inherits the family circus after her father is killed while practicing a difficult act. Feeling that small-time carnivals are on their way out, she updates the show by turning it into a “reform circus,” which consists of socially relevant entertainment. Unfortunately, it fails to attract customers, and her circus goes bankrupt—twice.

The story of Leni and her woes is slight but the strength of Kluge’s film is the complex imagery, with its masterful montages, filmic references, and layers of meaning. Like the circus in the film, Kluge finds popular film also to be in the throes of change — a viewpoint that turned out to be prophetic.

3 Reasons To buy this film

Features a nice bathtime nude scene from star Hennelore Hoger.
Kluge's use of overlapping narrators prevents the film from leaning too heavily on any single viewpoint.
The avant garde filmmaking techniques are often breathtaking.