Imagine having the power to cast a vote for someone to die. Will you do it?
"Circle" opens with 50 strangers waking up while standing in front of an alien-like contraption.
The machine doesn't allow any of the strangers to move beyond the circle they're standing on, and they weren't allowed to touch the person next to them either. It will kill someone every two minutes, randomly, unless at least one of the 50 strangers votes for someone to die using their hand.
As the movie progresses, revelations come out and pacts are made as all of the participants fight for their survival.
"Circle," which premiered at the Seattle International Film Festival, touches on the deep concepts of moral values, social standing, and age as the basis of life or death.
The movie stars an ensemble of not-well-known actors, such as Michael Nardelli, Kaiwi Lyman-Mersereau, Molly Jackson, and Allegra Masters. The acting here is tolerable but can be better. That can be understood as some of the cast members are only "there" for the purpose of diversity and not acting. However, the leads gave a convincing performance. So I guess it's not a total blunder. Writers and directors Aaron Hann and Mario Miscione did an excellent job despite their limited resources.
"Circle" is a low-budget film that has a not-so-great production value, but addressing all its technicalities would derail you from seeing its true value.
The quality of the film is in the message it wants to convey to the viewers. The movie is essentially a commentary on the current social, political, and psychological issues we're experiencing today. It is mind-boggling and daring to create a film about strangers "choosing" people to kill. But everything was handled nicely. The writer cleverly puts the characters in a situation where anyone can be the devil.
"Circle" is a thought-provoking, psychological-horror film that will scare you because it has shown that an idea or belief can kill anyone. It is far from a perfect film, and there is a lot of untapped potential in it. But it tried and that means a lot.
3/5
