A clown gets to make money.
SEND IN THE CLOWNS is used with permission from Ben Ashton. Learn more at benwesleyashto....
A clown clocks in and out of work, day after day, making ends meet. But when he's late to a birthday party gig and chewed out by an irate mother, he's dropped from the company he works for.
Soon he is struggling, running out of money and having a hard time finding work and purpose. One day, he comes across a chance to get some much-needed cash. But it puts him at odds with the authorities, putting him in a situation he can't clown his way out of.
Directed and written by Ben Ashton, who also stars in the lead role, this short dramedy may have a clown as its focus, but he is no farcical Bozo. Instead, the film is in the tradition of Charlie Chaplin, in which a child-like innocent often is perplexed by the mores and assumptions of a modern world. Like Chaplin's THE TRAMP, the clown here never breaks character. We never see the nose or face paint come off; we never hear him talk. He responds to obstacles with silence, instead deploying the vocabulary of classic clown gags and antics to defuse often high-stress situations.
The clown may remain a clown throughout the story, which follows his travails as he loses his job and sinks further into desperation. But the world around him is recognizable. Despite the small flourishes of innocent simplicity -- a bank is labeled as "Bank" and an ATM screen reads "No Money" -- it is still a world of missed alarms that normally screech, bad traffic, rude entitled people and irate bosses. And while the clown may scramble through the city in his bright costume, big shoes and face paint, the environment is rendered careworn and bleak by a visual naturalism that reads more kitchen sink than fantastical. He may be a clown, but he lives in a world that is real, difficult and sometimes unforgiving.
And sadly, the clown's slide into depression and economic hardship are all too real as well. As the lead actor, Ashton offers a multi-layered performance, capturing the genuine anxiety, fear and sadness as the clown looks for work but can't find any. Even as the demeanor and gestures of a clown never break, he gets more anxious and worried. With such commitment to character, we begin to understand that clowning is not his role or job, but his identity and true self. The clown remains fundamentally innocent and naive -- a naivete that will backfire on him when he takes desperate steps to stay afloat and must face its consequences.
Initially charming, whimsical and engaging, SEND IN THE CLOWNS slowly twists the humorous, silly perception of clowns, re-shaping the main character from a comically out of place, naive figure to someone falling into the margins of society and paying a heavy cost for their differences, which are little understood or minimized to the point of ignorance. In the end, the film emphasizes the sadder side of the "tragicomic," taking on the feel of a parable. Whether that parable is a metaphor for economic struggle or police violence is debatable. But what lingers well after its ending is a sense of a harsh world, with a lack of compassion and too much isolation. Instead, everyone is out for themselves, with little joy, innocence or laughter.
30 сен 2024
