The Clown

A father and son work as clowns in a travelling circus moving through small Brazilian towns. Benjamim, the son, is in his thirties and believes he can no longer make anyone laugh; he does not even have an identity card, because he has never been registered anywhere in his life. The film is not interested in circus nostalgia. It is interested in being unable to define yourself: trying to obtain a document, the man is really asking what he is. Its best scenes are the silences backstage between two men who have been repeating the same joke for years. The form is slow and tied to place: dust, the tent, the road, town squares. The colours are pale and there is little music. Selton Mello directed and stars, with Paulo José as the father. The film was widely seen in Brazil and submitted as the country's Oscar entry. Who it is for: viewers who like Brazilian cinema, travelling circus stories and quiet melancholy. Who it is not for: anyone waiting for events. The film is nearly without incident and its humour is deliberately tired.