Product Description

Mitsuko is forced to watch her parents lovemaking by her perverted father and her domineering mother, who imprison her in a cello case employed with a peephole. When Mitsuko s mother apparently dies, her father forces the girl to be the victim of his incestuous desires, which drives her to attempt suicide with a leap from a height...yet all of this is apparently just the new novel being penned by reclusive, wheelchair-bound author Taeko (Masumi Miyazaki, who also plays the mother). Or is it?

Taeko is assigned a new assistant, effeminate admirer Yuji, and the two begin a sexual relationship in Taeko s ornately designed estate. But we soon must question the real identities of both Taeko and Yuji. Shocking, sexually and violently graphic, Strange Circus is shot in a gorgeously rich color scheme and features a strong, fearless performance by Miyazaki.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #65018 in DVD
• Brand: TLA RELEASING
• Released on: 2007-03-06
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: Japanese
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 109 minutes

Features

• Suicide Club's maverick cult director Sion Sono returns with a disturbing, visually electrifying shocker about a sexually abused young woman and her hallucinatory reality. This surreal shockfest just gets more disturbing as it progresses. even before the amputations, bondage imprisonment, and secret transsexuality! Teenage Mitsuko is forced to watch her parents' lovemaking through the peep

Review
"Circus is a madman s journey through every possible level of storytelling: symbolic, surreal, imaginary, fictional and realistic. Actress Masumi Miyazaki is fantastic!" --Film Threat

Review
"Is first and foremost disturbing...watch it!" --Janet Lee, Film Monthly

Review
"Perversly beautiful film. Masumi Miyazaki is a standout!" --Ray Justavick, CHUD.com

Customer Reviews

Note that it is missing 24 minutes!!!
Actually, until I hit that point, I was ready to get this - movies do not offend me. But I see no point to purchasing a film with a few minutes missing - much less 24- a quarter of the film - and from the sound of the reviewer I learned this from this is perfectly acceptable because the missing parts offer more detail of the situation. ???

I am always thankful when someone provides this kind of information - now if someone will arrange an uncut release, my credit card will be out and ready - but never for this chopped up version.

"...love, lust, jealousy, meantal breakdown, and then revenge..."
I really don't know where to start on this one, because it is just that amazing.

Firstly, the movie is incredibly beautiful, in a mind-blowing, visually stunning sort of way. Everything is very detailed,
Secondly, the acting is impeccable. All of the characters come to life and Masumi Miyazaki does such an insanely good job, I stand captivated long after multiple viewings...
Combined, you are sucked into the world these characters are living in, and sent into the big top of chaos.

Sion Sono, who you may, and most likely know from Suicide Club takes a whack at sexuality, and once again family. Tossing away society, we take a very intimate look at the workings of attraction, jealousy, memories, and a hurricane of other emotions that spawn from love of any sort; in this case it is a distorted love.

About this DVD:
The packaging is very nice, haha... the apparently newly trendy clear box, with nice inserts. The disk itself has the full version of Strange Circus, despite what the box says, this is, in fact the full TLA releasing of the movie, with the time as correct on Amazon.com. Why it is incorrect on the box... I do not know. There is also a great making of featurette, with English subtitles, that runs about an hour.

Though people say that this movie is highly disturbing and uncomfortable, etc. I didn't find it to be that bad. Yes there are some more... off-putting scenes, but nothing I wouldn't feel comfortable watching with friends, and definitely nothing inappropriate given the story/goal of this film, that taken into perspective, it's actually quite tasteful, going so far as to let you in on what is happening, but not so far as to be exploiting anyone. As I said, it is so well done, that you are completely taken along for the ride. The music is dead on to bring you in too, and the visuals are surreal to ordinary, and everywhere in between, but even when ordinary, it is breath-taking in beauty. Sion Sono again takes on a big task, and succeeds, in my opinion, and delivers something to take a look at and open your mind up to!

All around 5/5! A must buy/watch for the Japanese Cinema fan, Sion Sono fan, or the open-minded viewer!!!

True to its title...3 1/2 stars.
Strange Circus is from the director of Suicide Club. Both films are controversial and very uninhibited with their theme.
Very bizarre, uninhibited, disturbingly wierd to its very core, this film doesn't leave much for the imagination, it pushes the envelope in the world of the macabre and the unusual. Actually, bizarre is an understatement. Decapitated limbs, incestuous lovemaking, and blood-soaked walls squeeze deep within the story's convoluted and utterly unnerving nature. It's the type of film that you want to look away from if it wasn't so intriguing.

A film that pushes the envelope this far has to be artistically captivating in its cinematography and immersive in execution to offset its exploitative premise and bypass its dark shadowy premise. The film delivers; with such lurid visual grandeur, dark twisted philosophy and a very strong and aggressive narrative style from director Sion Sono, it manages to rise above that label, but still maintain a feeling of gritty disgust which looms in its endless pit of the unusual. Buckle your seat belts and check your airbags, because all the odd and disturbing twists and turns within Strange Circus could disturb the viewer in a way that simulates whiplash.

As much as I would like to give you details of the screenplay, I'd rather have the ones who happen to rent/buy this title be taken on a ride. Suffice it to say, the film revolves around the decline of child named Mitsuko, and her mother Sayuri/Taeko the novelist. While this is a very grotesque tale of a love triangle, the good cinematography can preoccupy the viewer of this odd tale.

Masumi Miyazaki gives a great performance. She is quite gutsy to pull this off. She manages to capture the aura of Sayuri's/Taeko's eroticism as well as her twisted presence. She is quite a sight. The actress must have been hand-picked for this role. Sexy, alluring but with a disturbing aura about her; Miyasaki rivals Aya Sugimoto when it comes to raw twisted sexuality.

Strange Circus is an experience very much alike when you experience motion sickness. Viewers will feel like being grabbed by the spine and shaken until you pass out. For some reason, I managed to sit through the entire film because it gets you curious on how it will end. It has that effect much like when you see a car wreck, you want to look away but for unknown some reason you can't and your eyes are stuck.

Video/Audio: This TLA release video transfer is much like the Japanese region 3 release. The transfer is very sufficient to a film this type. It has some video noise but not bad. The 5.1 DD track is quite crisp. It delivers that loud creepy score.

I would like to warn you that this is not for the faint of heart. It is a journey into the unusual with a VERY shocking level of abnormality. People who liked Lynchian-type mind-benders may want to give it a shot. The film's premise is of such sensitive nature that only the MOST TIMID recommendation can be given. [3.5 stars]