In a battered, isolated farmhouse somewhere in a war zone, a grieving may lays out the corpse of his wife. His two children over nervously. Then trucks approach. The father grabs his shotgun – but it’s not troops, but a small travelling circus.
They pitch camp; their aged ringmaster is dying, but they’re still determined to put on a show. Slovenian filmmaker Janez Burger’s dialogue-free poetic fable doesn’t dig deep (circus as metaphor for life, thanks Fellini) but there’s a gentle surreal charm that’s hard to resist.
And the multi-national cast – genuine circus folk, many of them – give great ensemble.
