In the Film ‘The Circus Lion,’ the Dream Becomes a Cage

The greatest of Sam’s struggles seems to be to fit in with his peers. Other youth can be seen enjoying parties, drinking away their sorrows while paradoxically remaining apathetic to those around them, yet Sam visibly responds differently. With discomfort evident on his face, Sam wanders through parties, only opening up when talking to Jasmine, a thoughtful, caring character. Samvel pursues her but she ultimately turns him down, after Samvel misreads a situation and goes in for a kiss.

The burden of his emotional battles is portrayed through the absence of color. In addition, the use of black and white stands as a visual metaphor for the town’s dark, gritty, and colorless reality, starkly contrasting with the bright colors typically associated with Armenia.

A lion and a circus are the two main symbols of Samvel’s struggles in the film. The trapped circus lion represents wrestler Samvel’s current status, fenced in by his environment, trauma and unfulfilled potential. Thus, the lion imagery appears during Samvel’s dream after he is left sitting alone at a party, not even able to fit in with his own friends. Just as the lion can’t escape his isolation, Sam feels trapped and alone, without a tribe of his own. When Sam and a wrestling teammate later actually see a circus, the teammate exclaims, “Have you ever seen the difference between the eyes of a caged lion versus a lion in the wild? It’s pretty f****g tragic.”

Samvel is too afraid to break societal expectations around masculinity, perhaps like Tovmasian as a youngster, and so at first walks away from the attraction of the circus. Eventually, though, both he and Tovmasian find life-changing opportunities, with Samvel returning to the circus.

Tovmasian was able from a young age to channel his strength and ambition into acting, unlike Samvel who was held back initially by the shackles of societal expectations. Before Tovmasian left for the US at the age of 14 in 2015, he trained in the Meisner acting technique, which emphasizes natural responses and spontaneity, at the Actors Pulse in Sydney. In the United States, he was able to work with renowned actors such as Debby Ryan from “Jessie,” Paris Berelc from “Lab Rats: Elite Force,” and Josie Totah from “Spider-Man: Homecoming.” Upon returning to Australia, Tovmasian continued training and left high school to pursue acting full time.

After having performed in several stage pieces, commercials, film clips, and the TV mini-series “Greystanes,” he turned to the world of wrestling. Tigran and his older brother had trained and competed in judo tournaments from a young age, and Tigran was an international gold medalist and four-time national medal winner. Tigran switched to this new sport. With one year of training, Tigran rose to the level of state champion, birthing his desire to write “The Circus Lion” with the help of his mentor, Billy Milionis, who became the creative producer of the movie.