nyfilm’s review published on Letterboxd:
Jonas Menkas once again impresses with his home-video style experimental filmmaking. Notes on the Circus is an atmospheric montage of a Ringling Brothers Circus that Menkas attended. The short is separated into four sped up sections of circus footage that is supposed to represent the different acts of the show itself. Menkas in the late sections does end up using double exposure to blend different sections of the circus, which I found to be extremely entertaining. Here he was able to evoke various emotions within me as well through his use of colors and how they enter and leave the frame due to the cuts and compositions of shots. His control of the score within the short is also extremely impressive. His manipulation of tempo also plays a big part in what emotions the viewer could experience during certain sections.
This review here also has a great story about the film that made me appreciate it even more. It truly did feel as if I had the experience of the entire circus, through Menka’s sped up “diary” of events as he liked to refer to his films. I can’t wait to delve into the feature length filmography of Jonas Menkas.
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