A very good movie

To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but, since it seemed to have a decent reputation and since it was available on YouTube, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it turned out to be such a weird but also quite fascinating movie. Indeed, narratively speaking, it took such wild turns, most of it was actually quite unpredictable. For example, if you would look at the poster, you wouldn’t expect it to start with an inventor who was double-crossed by his benefactor. When people get a sh*tty deal, they start to drink heavily or take drugs but this guy, for some reason, decided to become a clown which seemed and was just so random and, yet, the end-result was quite spellbinding to behold. Indeed, they gave us some rather surreal circus scenes and, in my opinion, it was the saddest clown act I have ever seen. On the other hand, without the context, how would I have reacted if I saw this clown getting slapped and slapped again? Maybe I would have thought that it was actually hilarious? It still did feel like some crude and mean sense of humor though. One of the main reasons why the damned thing actually worked was obviously Lon Cheaney. Indeed, Cheaney was arguably one of the best actors that ever lived and, even though it might not be one of his most famous movies, his performance here was quite incredible. It must have been one of the most complex characters I have ever seen and I don’t think I understood some of his actions. I mean, come on, what a strange way to handle a traumatic experience and, yet, with Lon Cheaney playing the guy, it actually all made sense somehow. At some point, they did deviate completely from this main character and focused instead on a romantic couple involving John Gilbert and Norma Shearer but even though they were sweet, they were also rather boring. Above all, like the rest of this movie, the whole romance did feel pretty random. Anyway, to conclude, even if it wasn’t flawless, there was something so unique about the damned thing and I thought it was quite unforgettable to behold.

8/10