"Die Artisten in der Zirkuskuppel: Ratlos" or "Artists under the Big Top: Perplexed" is a (very strange title for a) West German film from 1968, so this one will have its 50th anniversary soon. it is a black-and-white film (for the most part), which was not too common anymore around that time and the director and writer is Alexander Kluge. He was still fairly young, but already an established filmmaker at this point, but with all the awards attention his work here received this is certainly one of the most defining movies from his body of work. It runs for slightly over 100 minutes and makes statements on society, politics and the protagonists' life in general, in the face of the times and country they live in. This is a bit of a general consensus with Kluge's films and I also found it difficult to make a connection to what I see. I cared very little for the characters and I was surprised the actors received German Film Award nominations for their work here. Kluge is always extremely bleak. So you need to like this approach in order to appreciate his work, in general and in the case of the "Big Top". I personally do not recommend the watch or only to those who have seen other works from Kluge and enjoyed them.
