Lacking a coherent plot, We're All Riding on a Circus Elephant depicts the collapse of western civilization as a free-form collage advocating group anarchy and actor improvisation. The stage is a boxing ring. Those actors who are "onstage" get into the boxing ring and assault each other with words. Others heckle and cheer at the sidelines, or act as a rhythm-and-blues chorus while changing costumes or wigs. Taking as its coda Andy Warhol's dictum that everyone gets fifteen minutes of fame, actor transformations depict the Breakdown of Japanese values and selfhood due to an obsession with popular American culture.
Sakumi Hagiwara
Director
Shūji Terayama
Writer
The Greatest Showman78%
Dumbo65%
Animal Farm65%
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes61%
Dumbo69%
Horton Hears a Who!65%
Burlesque72%
Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted66%
EO65%
Santa Sangre71%
Water for Elephants69%
Maximum Overdrive58%
Sing71%
The Book of Life75%
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome62%
The Valley of Gwangi71%
The Greatest Show on Earth63%
Sing 278%
Corner Office65%
The Magician's Elephant67%
