The Circle

Hollywood has an abundance of topics it's fascinated with, but one topic it woos is the 'big brother' ones where the films asks the audience, 'what if...?' On one hand, something can be good for society as a whole, but when one examines, that good thing can end up causing more harm than good. As with "The Circle", is this good for society, or not? Or maybe more to the point, is what is being offered as good is merely covering up a more sinister situation?

 

When Mae Holland (Emma Watson) is hired to work for the world's largest and most powerful tech and social media company, she sees it as an opportunity of a lifetime. As she rises through the ranks, she is encouraged by the company's founder, Eamon Bailey (Tom Hanks) and CCO, Tom Stenton (Patton Oswalt) to engage in a groundbreaking experiment that pushes the boundaries of privacy, ethics and ultimately her personal freedom. Her participation in the experiment, and every decision she makes begin to affect the lives and future of her friends including Annie (Karen Gillan) and Mercer (Ellar Coltrane), her family including her mom, Bonnie (Glenne Headley), her dad, Vinnie (Bill Paxton), and that of humanity as a whole. Seemingly, the only one in which she can eventually turn to is Ty (John Boyega), someone who helped put The Circle on the map, but who now expects anonymity

 

Others to round out the cast are Mamoudou Athie as Jared, Nate Corddry as Dan, Smith Cho as Gina, Amir Talai as Matt and Poorna Jagannathan as Dr. Villalobos.

 

This was directed with intensity and grit by James Ponsoldt ("Off the Black" '06, "Smashed" '12, "The Spectacular Now" '13, "The End of the Tour" '15, "The Legend of Master Legend" (TV movie) '17) plus shorts and TV. His ability to create an atmosphere of utter fear and creepiness in his characters was spot on. One minute, The Circle seems euphoric, but then soon it makes the audience wonder: is it wonderful, or is there something that isn't right going on here? It was effectively written by Ponsoldt ("Off the Black" '06, "Smashed" '12) plus shorts and TV, which is based on the novel by Dave Eggers ("Away We Go" '09, "Where the Wild Things Are" '09, films based on stories: "Promised Land" '12, "A Hologram for the King" '16). What makes this script sneaky is how it starts off by introducing Mae to an awesome company, but then, in very subtle ways, things aren't what they seem, and this is clever writing. As with most 'big brother' films, they are vehicles in which to teach us as a society to not get sucked in to something that will control and have power over us. Certainly "The Circle" is no exception. Other than a couple of places of slowness in script, this was executed in a way which will make us think.

 

'Big bother' films have been around since films have been on this planet and I don't think they're going anywhere anytime soon. Even though this isn't one of Hanks' better efforts, this film certainly has a lot to say, and that is, don't accept something at face value until you've researched it thoroughly, and then take reservations.

 

Out of 4 Stars: 3                                     Rated: PG-13                                     110mins.