The Circle (2017) has stayed in my watch list for quite some time due to its poor ratings. Now that it appeared on Netflix I watched it today.
With a rural girl from a working family, an ailing father, and, a childhood (boy) friend. Helped by her friend, this girl Mae Holland gets to work at the world’s richest company – The Circle. The shape of the campus (The Circle) is meant to indicate the (then) richest company in real – the Apple Computers and its new spaceship campus. Quickly we see parts of Mark Zuckerberg, Larry & Page, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and other tech founders in the characters being portrayed on screen. The company “True You” is a combination of an all-knowing Facebook, Google, Apple and even Pokemon Go. These should’ve made an interesting watch, unfortunately, the mix is random and with no clear focus.
Mae Holland (Emma Watson) starts off as a caring, sensitive & intelligent person. Suddenly after a kayaking accident, she decides to go transparent – meaning she will broadcast live her entire life (except the bathroom breaks) using The Circle’s new SeeChange camera. Why she does it, is not convincing and was abrupt. From that point, the film goes into a downward spiral rapidly, with us waiting for it to end ‘less’ worse than it can. The concept of compulsory voting and 22 countries using “The Circle” to enable this compulsory voting was the start of this unconvincing trend in the screenplay.
There were moments in the film which could’ve been explored further, but were left half-baked – like the secret visit of Mae to the companies’ storage vaults, her parent’s bedroom private moments accidentally streamed live, or the moment when Mae’s best friend starts to avoid her. What made me rate the movie from “Raw” to “Rotten” were two things: 1) the unconvincing and unhappening climax; 2) wasting a talented actor like Tom Hanks in a poorly written role.
Overall, The Circle (2017) was a poorly made feature film version of an episode from the “Black Mirror“.
Available on Netflix India.
Comments