So this is the movie that inspired Daniel Day-Lewis?

****SPOILERS REGARDING "CLOWNING AROUND"****


For those of you that missed it:

Mr. Day-Lewis (I'm not sure what the kids like to call him these days) gave a very emotional tribute to Heath Ledger during the SAG Awards the other night. He mentioned something in his speech about Ledger being a major inspiration to him throughout the years, which confused me to a certain extent. Although I was well aware that Daniel Day-Lewis is capable of time travel, I really didn't see much of Ledger's influence over him... at least from what I've seen.

So I decided to do some research on Lewis, and I found this quote from him regarding the significance that "Clowning Around" has made on his life (directly off IMDb's "Quotes and Trivia" page):

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Never before have I ever read such an enthralling review of a film! Mr. Lewis' adoration of this film, and respect of Heath's performance signifies a love so great that it can not be expressed in any kind of rational formula. To even begin to decrypt that message of affection would blow the collective minds of not only this generation, but generations to come.

I knew that I had to see this movie.

So I NetFlix'd both "Clowning Around" and "Clowning Around 2." I decided to watch "Clowning Around 2" first, and I found that film to be utterly amazing....

But as great as it was, it all became inferior once I popped in its predecessor. I can say without hyperbole that nothing in this world could ever prepare me for the audacious beauty of "Clowning Around."--- It's a film that is difficult to watch, but impossible to ever forget. You will not find a single review of this film on RottenTomatoes; I assume this is not because no major critics saw the film, but because they walked out of the theater too disgusted and perplexed to pen even one word for the film, positive or negative. Much like Kubrick's "2001", Welles' "Touch of Evil," and Herzog's "Aguirre: The Wrath of God" "Clowning Around" too is a film that would fall to the misfortune of being taken under the whim of a neglecting audience. What is even more unfortunate is that while those three aforementioned films have all found their success, while "Clowning Around" still floats in near-obscurity. But hopefully Lewis will rekindle this dying torch and turn "Clowning Around" eternal. It's a cinematic masterpiece, that is too important to ever be forgotten.

Some critics would argue that the inclusion of a rape and matricide scene was entirely too off-putting for an otherwise family friendly film. I find these critics to be completely out of touch with reality. "Clowning Around" does not end positively, but neither does life. The message of the film is a stark, but regretably truthful one: Innocence is not static.

Yes, the film starts off innocently enough. We see the good-natured Sim escape his menial life to join the circus. For the first few years, things are looking up for Dear Ol' Sim. He dances and sings jovially to illustrate his happiness with the circus, it's just like any other family film... until Sim begins to grow up. The circus goes through exchanges in ownership, each owner more corrupt than the next. Sim changes, and so does the world. No longer do trivial things entertain the masses like they did like such a short time ago. People no longer care about clowns anymore... unless those clowns are fellating a panda.

I won't go into it more than that, but the film becomes downright evil in spots. Even I found it too nihilistic for its own good (Clearly Michael Haneke owes "Clowning Around" a bit of over-due gratitude as well), but that's just life. That's the way things are...

I was smitten with the film, you can tell that much. But I wasn't sure why Lewis seemed to be praising Ledger for it... At 95 minutes, Heath Ledger did not show up in a single scene!... But then the end happened.

With the chaos of the circus burning down behind him our now crippled hero Sim (now 23 at the time) collapses into a thick, turgid puddle of muddy water under those dark purple overcast skies to cry to himself, and possibly die there.
But before he can complete all that, Heath Ledger (12 at the time), portraying an unamed orphan clown slowly stagger into the scene to deliver some of the simplest, yet most moving final lines I've ever heard in the history of cinema:

"I think things are going to be OK. It looks like there's a storm coming. Those rains will probably wash the fire out in a few hours. We'll be able to go back there in the morning."

And for that moment, Sim sees himself at 12 in Ledger's character and realizes that there's no hope left for this kid, as he's already repeating the same paths which have left him so deranged and scarred. There are no safe havens, and the kid has yet to realize this. The story is going to repeat itself, and it's completely unavoidable.

That ending made me agree with everything Lewis said regarding Ledger's performance in that unintelligible, near epileptic diatribe. It's undermined, yet profoundly moving. Nothing can describe the sheer genius of it.

"Clowning Around" is not passive entertainment. It'll make you look at the world with new eyes, whether you like it or not. It's completely unforgettable. I had trouble even writing this review without weeping to myself about it... So I'll just stop right here.