The Aerialist (Igor Zaripov) and Mia (Erica Linz) travers many worlds to find each other. Photo by Mark Fellman.
Cirque du Soleil is known for wowing crowds with its international athletic talents, elaborate set designs and impressive costumes. But audiences are typically only able to escape into one Cirque world at a time. But with Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away, moviegoers get to see snippets of several of Cirque’s non-touring Las Vegas shows in 3-D with a narrative that ties it all together.
The main story is of a young Mid-Western woman named Mia (Erica Kathleen Linz) who ventures to the other side of the tracks to visit a traveling carnival. But this is no Cirque show under the Grand Chapiteau. This is an old-fashioned carnival run by derelicts and featuring exploitative sideshow acts like the strongman and bearded lady. You know, the kind of place where professional wrestling was born.
While traversing the carnies and other dangers, Mia makes eye contact with a handsome carnival worker being forced to hammer tent spikes into the ground. When she receives a flyer for The Aerialist (Igor Zaripov), she realizes he is the same man and seeks out his performance. But when he misses his trapeze bar and plummets to the ground, both Mia and The Aerialist are sucked into an even darker world where Cirque shows such as Kà, Mystère, Criss Angel Believe and Zumanity are all just a few steps from each other under their own tents.
Mia (Erica Linz) is led through Cirque's many worlds by Le Vieux (Benedikt Negro). Photo by Mark Fellman.
Mia’s guide on her quest to find The Aerialist (as well as her way back to her wholesome home) is a silent Joker-esque clown (Benedikt Negro) who, despite his creepy demeanor, really does seem interested in helping her. A majority of the film seems to focus on Kà (a post-apocalyptic mix of Mad Max and Flash Gordon), the sensual water displays of O and The Beatles Love. And the Beatles soundtrack – particularly “Get Back” – provides a fitting narrative to Mia’s predicament. Mia also wanders in and out of Viva Elvis for surreal performances such as wall-crawling and trampoline-jumping masked superheros (or are they luchadores?). As impressive and frightening as all these illusions, battles, athletics and musical performances are, Mia only wants to see one performer, which is what keeps her going.
The Aerialist, in the meantime, is on a similar quest to find Mia. And his encounters with the various Cirque performers require him to utilize his own athletic talents in order to venture on to the next tent. Directed by Andrew Adamson and produced by James Cameron, Worlds Away becomes a splendorous display of the many Las Vegas attractions as well as an entirely new Cirque story that could easily play out in subsequent movies or live productions. And while such an endeavor could have come across as an infomercial-like marketing ploy in less-sophisticated hands, Worlds Away is able to introduce viewers to Cirque’s magic without it seeming contrived.