Director: James Ponsoldt Starring: Emma Watson, Tom Hanks Studio: STX Entertainment Genre(s): Science Fiction Rated: PG-13 (For a sexual situation, brief strong language and some thematic elements including drug use) |
The disappointing thing about “The Circle” is that it asks
some timely and important questions that human society is having both socially
and politically without ever getting a good idea of what is at the heart of the
issues and what it feels about them.
Granted, I’m not always sure how “I” feel about these issues, but I’ve
got an idea of where my optimism ends and where my concerns begin, and if I can
do that without a college degree, I’d hope professional writers and producers
would be able to have a more definitive idea on the subject. Of course, this is a movie coming from
Hollywood, a place George Clooney claimed was “a little out of touch with
reality” while he happily accepted an Oscar for Best Support Actor, so maybe
the disconnect shouldn’t be too surprising?
Never mind.
If you are reading this review then chances are you are
reading it on a mobile device. It makes
me cringe to think that this carefully worded piece of journalistic garbage is
being consumed in such a way, but that is the way of the world, and our future
does not appear to be changing anytime soon.
We are connected to our mobile devices, taking pictures of everything we
see, and vlogging about our lives as if every little thing we do is so
important it needs to be chiseled in stone.
Or maybe not, seeing that kids today don’t place a lot of value is
physical objects? I don’t know, I still
buy CD’s, so maybe I’m out of my league with this concept myself. But this the concept of The Circle, which is
a company run by Eamon Bailey (Tom Hanks, who also produced the film) that
seeks to make truth transparent and readily available.
For his company has set up a massive social media empire
that connects to cameras, phones, e-mail, TV’s (which appear to have 3D
features in this world, interestingly enough)., computers, and everything that
can be plugged in. He reminds me of a
cross between Steve Jobs as Mark Zuckerberg as he talks about all the wonderful
things this technology will be able to do, how it will bring people together,
all while being oblivious to the potential dangers of creating a system that
has its fingers in every aspect of people’s daily lives. He’s a CEO though, and just interested in
progressing his company and making the shareholders happy. The movie mostly follows a young woman named
Mae Holland (Emma Watson), who starts out as a receptionist at the company and
is perplexed by the amount of personal information her employers ask of her.
As the film progresses those concerns seem less and less
important as she seems to not only buy into The Circle’s bigger philosophy, but
even wants to expand the products reach.
She perplexingly tells her parents “just because something is broken
doesn’t mean it can’t be fixed.” She says this after a tragedy in the film
takes place (that I will not spoil here) that makes us stop and wonder what her
real thoughts on The Circle are? For
that matter, throughout the movie I was rarely sure what she thought about the
company. There is much hesitation on her
part to participate in the various activities her company boss asks her to do,
yet when she does relent she seems to embrace the tasks with little to no
thought on what this means for her as a person.
This is where “The Circle” becomes frustratingly vague. I have no problem with movies letting
audiences decide for themselves what things mean.
I do, however, feel film makers need to make it clear how
the protagonist feels about everything happening in their lives, and understand
why they do what they do. For Mae I was
never sure what she felt about The Circle or what it was doing. She never has a moment where she realizes she
is more disconnected from the real world more and more each day. If she is this passive then I suppose it
comes as no surprise she becomes a centerpiece for the company’s propaganda
machine, but people who are easily manipulated should not be main protagonists
because they don’t feel anything. We are
watching a movie character, not manipulating a video game character. “The Circle” ultimately fails because it is
about a concept but not an idea. People
are very aware that privacy may soon be a thing of the past. What they struggle with is whether they
should embrace that future or rebel against it.
“The Circle” is a film that doesn’t know how it feels about either
scenario and it shows.
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| CONSUMER ADVICE |
Parents, there is a scene of implied sex, some mild language, a disturbing death, and an undertone of creepiness. Recommended for ages 13 and up.
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