The Circle

The future is coming and the future is transparency. Whether we like it or not, technology is connecting our lives more and more with few people caring as it improves convenience. The audience can look at The Circle in one of two ways, the first being that the lesson taught is the technology is good but is being used and twisted in the wrong hands. Given a noble Shepard, the technology will send us into a new age. The second view, which is the one I prescribe to, is that our society is moving too fast towards convenience and ignoring the big issues that are being trounced in our haste. The scariest thing about the circle is that we are on Pace to have everything that happens be possible in our lifetime. People are more interested in the technology than what they may be giving up to get it. The Circle follows Emma Watson as she gets her dream job at the big progressive social media company called The Circle.

The circle takes a lot of its cues from Google from college like campus, to the open idea of how and when to work. If you substitute the name Google in for The Circle you would barely even notice. Switch out Tom Hanks as the lovable boss who cares with Mark Zuckerberg and you wouldn't miss a beat. The one aspect that was delightfully unexpected was seeing Bill Paxton play Watson's disabled father. It reminds me of how much he was an amazing supporting character. The one downside to his character and the film in general is I do not know if Paxton and Glen Hadley, Watson's mother, are designed to be the old fuddy duddies who are against progress or if they are supposed to be the characters the audience can get behind with the over sharing. Watson walks a tight rope and often sways from side to side when it comes to which side of the debate she is on. At times she is all in at the circle and wants push its agenda even further and then there are times when she acts as though those who are fully enmeshed with the product are some sort of cult.

This all culminates in the dramatic event of the first that the audience is made to believe will finally push her over the edge against the circle and then suddenly she does a 180 and is back on board with simply the message that those at the top are to blame. Given that the film doesn't seem to know what kind of message is trying to send to its audience, whether we need to disconnect or connect completely, the film gets 1 out of 4 stars. It is still an interesting mirror held to society and where we are probably headed.