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''Circus'' is a 2000 British/American
neo noir Neo-noir is a film genre that adapts the visual style and themes of 1940s and 1950s American film noir for contemporary audiences, often with more graphic depictions of violence and sexuality. During the late 1970s and the early 1980s, the term ...
crime film Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...
directed by Rob Walker and written by David Logan. The movie stars John Hannah,
Famke Janssen Famke Beumer Janssen (; born 5 November 1964) is a Dutch actress and former model. She played Xenia Onatopp in ''GoldenEye'' (1995), Jean Grey (film series character), Jean Grey / Phoenix in the X-Men (film series), ''X-Men'' film series (2000� ...
,
Peter Stormare Rolf Peter Ingvar Stormare (; Birth name, né Storm, 27 August 1953) is a Swedish actor. He played Prince Hamlet, Hamlet for Ingmar Bergman, Gaear Grimsrud in the film ''Fargo (1996 film), Fargo'' (1996) and List of Prison Break characters#John ...
,
Brian Conley Brian Paul Conley (born 7 August 1961) is an English actor, comedian, singer and television presenter. Conley has been the host of '' The Brian Conley Show'', as well as presenting the Royal Variety Performance on eight occasions. In his 40+ ...
,
Fred Ward Freddie Joe Ward (December 30, 1942 – May 8, 2022) was an American character actor. Starting with a role in an Italian television movie in 1973, he appeared in such diverse films as '' Escape from Alcatraz'', '' The Right Stuff'', '' Remo Wil ...
and
Eddie Izzard Suzy Eddie Izzard ( ; born Edward John Izzard, 7 February 1962) is a British stand-up comedian, actor and activist. Her comedic style takes the form of what appears to the audience as rambling whimsical monologues and self-referential pantomi ...
. It was released in the United Kingdom on 5 May 2000 and in the United States on 15 September 2000.


Plot

Con artists Leo and Lily are partners both in work and in life. 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 is having a problem with his casino losing money. He wants Leo to run it. But he hates Leo and wants to get rid of him. Further complicating Leo's life is Julius 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 does not 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 has lost it all at the track. Troy is getting increasingly impatient and violent as he does not like to be kept waiting on his money. Evidence is piling up that Lily is working a con on Leo. With all these problems, it does not 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 $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. Bruno says that Leo cannot possibly kill him because he would have to kill his wife also. Reluctantly Leo agrees, and shoots Lily. Then he convinces Julius that the only way they can be partners is if he kills Bruno, so that they have a murder each on their hands. Julius does not mean to, but the gun goes off and Bruno is dead. During their getaway, Julius begins to feel odd. Leo confesses that he slipped a sedative into Julius' drink. He leaves a drugged Julius by the side of the road and with the con finished he makes his way to the train station where he meets up with Lily.


Cast

In addition,
Hinda Hicks Hinda Hicks (born 1976) is a British and Tunisian-born singer, actress and artist who first gained notability with her musical career in the late '90s. She is best known for her debut album ''Hinda'', that charted at #20 on the 1998 UK Top 40 ...
has a cameo appearance as Kelly, a jazz singer.


Reception


References


External links

* * * {{AFI film 2000 films 2000 crime thriller films British crime thriller films British neo-noir films Films set in Brighton 2000 directorial debut films 2000s English-language films 2000s British films English-language crime thriller films Columbia Pictures films