Taglines: Don’t trust any of these clowns.
Circus movie storyline. Bruno, a sadistic criminal, wants clever con man Leo out of the way. Leo and his equally clever wife, Lily, are up to something. So too is Julius: he hires Leo to kill Gloria, Julius’s wife. Leo does it, but then Julius shows up with the murder on tape, saying Gloria isn’t his wife – it’s blackmail.
Leo’s bookie, Troy, is also closing in, wanting to be paid. Bruno and Lily as well as Bruno and Julius have their own scams running, and Leo is their target. Maybe Leo can get Troy off his back, avoid Moose (Bruno’s huge enforcer), send Gloria’s corpse out of England, turn the tables on Bruno’s murderous brother Caspar, and outfox Lily. Or is Lily his fox? It’s a three-ring circus.
Circus is a 2000 British crime thriller movie directed by Rob Walker and written by David Logan. The movie stars John Hannah, Famke Janssen, Peter Stormare, Eddie Izzard, Fred Ward, Amanda Donohoe, Ian Burfield, Michael Attwell, Lucy Akhurst and Christopher Biggins. It was released in the UK on 5 May 2000 and had its USA (limited) release on 15 September 2000.
About the Story
Leo (John Hannah) and Lily (Famke Janssen) are a couple and a couple of con artists. Lily wants to get out of the racket and settle down in a nice place somewhere far away. Leo agrees saying that within a week they should have enough to leave for good. Leo’s cousin Bruno (Brian Conley) is having a problem with his casino losing money. He wants Leo to run it. But in reality, he hates Leo and wants to get rid of him.
Further complicating Leo’s life is Julius (Peter Stormare) who has asked Leo to kill his wife, Gloria. Only when it comes time to be paid, Julius, who has Leo committing the murder on tape, confesses he doesn’t have a wife; he paid a woman to pretend to be his wife. Julius wants 500,000 in pounds, otherwise he will release the tape to the authorities.
Then Moose shows up and He is looking for a woman who is the love of his life. Her name is Gloria. He asks if Leo could help him find her and Leo reluctantly agrees. Finally there’s Troy, a loan shark. Leo owes him a lot of money, but he’s lost it all at the track. Troy is getting increasingly impatient and violent as he doesn’t like to be kept waiting on his money. Evidence is piling up that Lily is working a con on Leo. With all of these problems, it doesn’t look as if Leo will survive the week.
Bruno’s in trouble with the Inland Revenue, so his accountant, Julius, comes up with an idea to con Lily by turning all of Bruno’s shipping company over to her, while Bruno pockets a cool $20 million. Only the problem is that Leo has got to Julius first and worked out a con of his own. Together Julius and Leo staged Gloria’s murder.
Leo goes to meet Julius with the blackmail money. Bruno has men with guns waiting, but Moose shows up to even out the fight. A bloodbath ensues and Julius, the only survivor, tells the tale to Bruno. Only Leo is not dead, and he leaves a recording that Lily finds and then shows to Bruno. Leo figured out that Lily was conning him and he confesses that he stole Bruno’s money. An enraged Lily and Bruno go to find Julius and catch him as he is splitting town. But then Leo shows up wanting to kill Bruno.
Circus (2000)
Directed by: Rob Walker
Starring: John Hannah, Famke Janssen, Peter Stormare, Eddie Izzard, Fred Ward, Amanda Donohoe, Ian Burfield, Michael Attwell, Lucy Akhurst, Christopher Biggins
Screenplay by: David Logan
Production Design by: James Merifield
Cinematography by: Ben Seresin
Film Editing by: Oral Norrie Ottey
Costume Design by: Anna B. Sheppard
Set Decoration by: Gina Cromwell
Art Direction by: Peter Wenham
Music by: Simon Boswell
MPAA Rating: R for strong violence, sexuality and language.
Distributed by: Columbia Pictures
Release Date: May 5, 2000 (United Kingdom), September 15, 2000 (United States)
Views: 120
