Circus Columbia

2010

1h 53m

Comedy

Drama

Romance

List

82%

Tomatometer

11 Reviews

70%

Audience Score

250+ Ratings

A man returns to Herzegovina from Germany hoping for a better life.

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Sheri Linden

Los Angeles Times

Despite its wobbly tone and stumbles into implausible melodrama, the film succeeds as a study of realignments among friends and family, a gently cracked mirror held up to the insanity that would soon devastate the region.

Rated: 3.5/5

Mar 8, 2012

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Diego Semerene

Slant Magazine

Its lightheartedness and overtly traditional narrative structure become a smart strategy for crafting what is ultimately a very nuanced political critique of capital.

Rated: 3/4

Feb 17, 2012

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V.A. Musetto

New York Post

A family getting evicted from its home is no laughing matter, except if you're watching "Cirkus Columbia,'' a satiric comedy from, of all places, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Rated: 3/4

Feb 17, 2012

Full Review

Vladan Petkovic

Cineuropa

Technical credits are generally top-notch, but the biggest accolades must go to the cast.

Aug 11, 2020

Full Review

Chris Cabin

Filmcritic.com

reaches a sublime balance between the personal and the political

Rated: 3.5/5

Feb 23, 2012

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Rex Roberts

Film Journal International

Cirkus Columbia is not as clever or complex as Danis Tanovic's masterpiece, No Man's Land, but it has its charms, not least its beguiling depiction of Balkan life before the war.

Feb 21, 2012

Full Review

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Audience Member

Where is home? How do you fit in to society? Small questions with big implications when a war is looming in a country divided by ethnic backgrounds. In the calm before the storm, see one family's story of upheaval, as well as their road to reconciliation.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/07/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I am not familiar with foreign movies, this was actually one of the first movies I watched in a different language with subtitles. I am happy to say that this movie encourages me to watch other foreign movies, because it was a wonderful experience. I didn't want to watch something where I would have to read subtitles the entire time, but it actually didn't end up bothering me at all, and I didn't even notices that I was doing it because it happened naturally. The story of this movie is so moving and well acted. You can't not like this movie because of it's historical background and brilliant writing. Also, Mira Furlan is one of my favorite actresses. She has been in a few of the American shows and movies I have watched, but what I recently noticed is that she does a lot of foreign war films like this one. She is sort of the Meryl Streep of foreign movies where the performance is always different, yet always getting better and drawing you in. Anyway, great story, great acting, and great characters!

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/08/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A nice picture of the usual life that was happening in the peace time just before the conflict in the balcanic regions and the life of a broken family that only gets some days together in the impass between the communism and the war.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/03/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A real surprise this small jewel. More than actors or film making or the plot, the thing that made interesting and very enjoyable this film was the atmosphere it had. I found it almost poetic.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/16/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Going into Cirkus Columbia I only knew two things about it, it was based on a novel and that it's a Bosnia drama. I got to say for my first Bosnia movie this was pretty good. Cirkus Columbia is a story set in the former Yugoslavia and centered on a guy who returns to Herzegovina from Germany with plenty of cash and hopes for a good new life. Cirkus Columbia has good writing, but it could have been better. Now I did get into the story and even though I didn't care much about the political aspect of the plot it did add to the drama. I also found each character to be likable in there own way and being being three dimensional which is best the part about the writing. The story flows smoothly and no scene ever feels out of place. Now the writing could have been better like I said earlier. Some of the more important scenes that were meant to be powerful didn't leave much of an impression. The same could said about the ending, while I found it to be a fitting to the story some won't be as satisfy with it. Though it could have been better, it's still a good drama. I'll admit that the cast themselves wasn't what I expected, but you could tell they got a lot by smoothly they made time pass by. I'm not sure about everybody else, but actor Miki Manojlovic reminds of Robert De Niro for some reason. Maybe it's because they look alike or simply Miki Manojlovic is just that good of an actor. Even though I haven't been to Bosnia it location works well for the story. I can't imagine this movie taking place in anywhere else. Cirkus Columbia might not have to look at, but hard work was into this and that's ultimately counts. Cirkus Columbia is a gripping Bosnia drama with three dimensional characters that make it worth a watch. Even though this movie is not great, it definitely deserves more attention.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/11/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This is officially a Bosnian drama but, like everything else on the Balkan, it has some of the best actors from Croatia and Serbia in it (and it was co-produced by dozen of European countries)... Miki Manojlović, Mira Furlan, Boris Ler and Jelena Stupljanin are the stars of this movie set in the Herzegovina part of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the early 1990s where big changes were occurring. After the destruction of the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia, in the risky times, a man comes back to his hometown after many years abroad and deals with his past and current family, using the political dealings of the region as a backdrop. This well researched and developed film, full with hidden nostalgia, will be a real delight to watch for people who lived in the old Yugoslavia and enjoyed a comfortable and secure life... while others, who took over and didn't built anything better will probably criticise this work of the talented Danis Tanovic as too kind to the old country, forgetting that the screenplay is based on the novel Cirkus Columbia by well known Bosnian Croat writer Ivica Đikić. The film was selected as the Bosnian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 83rd Academy Awards, but did not make the final shortlist. It is not a master piece as the previous No Man's Land from Tanovic but is still high quality film which should keep you in suspense... until the very powerful ending closes with appropriately chosen song by Jadranka Stojakovic - one of the big hits from the 90's in Yugoslavia.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/18/23

Full Review

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Danis Tanovic

Director

Miki Manojlovic

Divko Buntic

Mira Furlan

Lucija

Boris Ler

Martin

Milan Strljic

Ranko Ivanda

Svetislav Goncic

Savo

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Synopsis

A man returns to Herzegovina from Germany hoping for a better life.

Director: Danis Tanovic
Screenwriter: Danis Tanovic
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Original Language: Bosnian
Release Date (Streaming): May 4, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $3.2K
Runtime: 1h 53m

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