← Back to Reviews
in
A lot of times there will come a film that has an interesting premise, a decent execution and keeps your interest until the end. Then just when you think the film is going to end on a perfect note, it goes on a little bit more. That little bit more, ultimate ruins the film for you. Maybe not the entire piece, but enough to leave a sour taste in your mouth. Enough to make you question, why did they bother to include such a thing? Circle fits that criteria. The film is pretty simple with its premise. Complete strangers wake up standing in a circle. A countdown beings and they all must collectively choose which one of them will die. They do this until there is only one person left.
This concept raises a lot of questions. The film manages to hit every single one of them. For instance, there are both a pregnant woman and a child among the people who wake up in this circle. The question is then raised, do we let the child live? Do we let the pregnant woman live because she counts as two, technically. Do we eliminate the old people first? Do we take out the annoying ones, the homosexuals, the minorities, the rich, the poor, the handicapped, etc. Circle literally goes through every single one beat by beat. No social issue is left to the side.
So how does one make a film about people standing in a circle and voting on who dies? Very carefully of course. The filmmakers set up the rules of the film fairly early. You leave your red circle, you die. You touch another person, you die. Each person uses their hands to vote on who they wish to see die next, only that person who is voting, can see who they are voting for. Soon, lines are drawn, people express their reasons for wanting to live, or why they have the right to live over the others. Some people even sacrifice themselves in order to protect others. It is indeed, a very interesting concept that dives into a lot of psychological aspects of the human mind. This film could be great for psych classes.
But is it entertaining? How can a film where people can only talk and do nothing else, be entertaining? It is and it isn't. You have to ask yourself, can you watch a film where people just stand in a circle talking to one another? That's all they do here. The interest comes in where you try to anticipate who will die next and if the character you're rooting for will make it to the end. Is that enough though? The film is lean, clocking just under 90 minutes. Any longer and there would have been problems. Heck, it should be even shorter, as I mentioned earlier, the film loses me with the final moments.
Those final moments, honestly, should have been left on the cutting room floor. Cube a somewhat similar shape film, gives a similar situation where strangers need to work together to try and survive this unknown element. Where Cube succeeds in leaving things ambiguous, Circle decides to spell everything out for you. It's disheartening.
An interesting concept that would have been an amazing short film. 15 minutes to hit every social issues it needed to and I would have been really amazed. A feature length film and I left somewhat satisfied that I dedicated an hour and a half of my time to it.
Circle
(Aaron Hann, Mario Miscione)
"Do you think there are other people? Doing this?"
(Aaron Hann, Mario Miscione)
"Do you think there are other people? Doing this?"
A lot of times there will come a film that has an interesting premise, a decent execution and keeps your interest until the end. Then just when you think the film is going to end on a perfect note, it goes on a little bit more. That little bit more, ultimate ruins the film for you. Maybe not the entire piece, but enough to leave a sour taste in your mouth. Enough to make you question, why did they bother to include such a thing? Circle fits that criteria. The film is pretty simple with its premise. Complete strangers wake up standing in a circle. A countdown beings and they all must collectively choose which one of them will die. They do this until there is only one person left.
This concept raises a lot of questions. The film manages to hit every single one of them. For instance, there are both a pregnant woman and a child among the people who wake up in this circle. The question is then raised, do we let the child live? Do we let the pregnant woman live because she counts as two, technically. Do we eliminate the old people first? Do we take out the annoying ones, the homosexuals, the minorities, the rich, the poor, the handicapped, etc. Circle literally goes through every single one beat by beat. No social issue is left to the side.
So how does one make a film about people standing in a circle and voting on who dies? Very carefully of course. The filmmakers set up the rules of the film fairly early. You leave your red circle, you die. You touch another person, you die. Each person uses their hands to vote on who they wish to see die next, only that person who is voting, can see who they are voting for. Soon, lines are drawn, people express their reasons for wanting to live, or why they have the right to live over the others. Some people even sacrifice themselves in order to protect others. It is indeed, a very interesting concept that dives into a lot of psychological aspects of the human mind. This film could be great for psych classes.
But is it entertaining? How can a film where people can only talk and do nothing else, be entertaining? It is and it isn't. You have to ask yourself, can you watch a film where people just stand in a circle talking to one another? That's all they do here. The interest comes in where you try to anticipate who will die next and if the character you're rooting for will make it to the end. Is that enough though? The film is lean, clocking just under 90 minutes. Any longer and there would have been problems. Heck, it should be even shorter, as I mentioned earlier, the film loses me with the final moments.
Those final moments, honestly, should have been left on the cutting room floor. Cube a somewhat similar shape film, gives a similar situation where strangers need to work together to try and survive this unknown element. Where Cube succeeds in leaving things ambiguous, Circle decides to spell everything out for you. It's disheartening.
An interesting concept that would have been an amazing short film. 15 minutes to hit every social issues it needed to and I would have been really amazed. A feature length film and I left somewhat satisfied that I dedicated an hour and a half of my time to it.