Some time ago, whilst reading an article regarding silent movies, we were wondering if anyone today is still making this kind of films. In our day and age, it seems like silent movie is dead and it only presents interest as a study case. Since we’ve started our festival, we don’t remember having more than three or four silent movies, and most of them were more or less experimental, dealing with multiple issues and film techniques, making it very hard for us to put them in this category as being representative. But now we have ‘The Story of L’Homme Cirque’, a silent movie that is by all means the best we’ve seen so far in our festival.

 

Being a silent movie, the story is complex, but in an old-school way, so as the viewer will understand it with great ease. A man named David wants to have his own circus; he works for a guy called Mr. Max, and as expected, Mr. Max has a young and very beautiful daughter. But as it happens in stories like this one, Claudine, the daughter, is prone to marry Henry, an evil guy who she doesn’t love. David has to rescue her and live together happily till death does them part. Classic story, nothing spectacular here in terms of narrative, but as the actions goes on camera, this story is more than one can imagine. The main actors who played David and Claudine (David Dimitri and Ladina von Frisching) are absolutely brilliant in their roles, and for this reason 'The Story of L'Homme Cirque' has great potential. Even though it may look easy at first, you should be aware that making silent movies is harder than you thought.

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The cinematography is flawless and the score (performed by F.A.M.E.'S. Macedonian Symphonic Orchestra, a name that might not say much to the regular viewer, but just Google it and you will see that it is indeed a really big deal) is way beyond expectations. Almost everybody today is going for action movies or rom-coms, but here we are, enjoying this delightful piece, feeling like the 1930’s are back for good.

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Written by Vlad A. G