A sci-fi satire too jumbled and vague for its own good.
Over the past few years, James Ponsoldt has emerged as one of the most compelling independent filmmakers of his generation, following critically-acclaimed films like Smashed, The Spectacular Now, and The End of the Tour. He’s built up the kind of reliable reputation in the industry to make any new film of his one of the more anticipated independent films of the year, even when it has a much bigger budget than any of his previous outings, with a premise larger and more broad than any of the human conflicts he’s tackled before.
All of that and more is why Ponsoldt’s newest film, The Circle, had started looking more and more like it could be one of the more interesting films of the year so far. Headlined by talented actors like Tom Hanks, Emma Watson, John Boyega, Patton Oswalt, and Karen Gillan, and based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Dave Eggers (who co-wrote the film’s script with Ponsoldt), The Circle had all the makings of being one of the best films of 2017. Unfortunately, the final product just doesn’t come close to living up to the promise offered by its many impressive cast and crew members.
Watson leads the film as Mae Holland, a millennial stuck in a temp job she hates, spending every day feeling like she’s wandering around aimlessly. That is until she gets a new job at The Circle, a large tech company based in San Francisco and led by Tom Hanks’ charismatic Eamonn Bailey. Designed to look like any other cool tech startup of the 21st century, The Circle is leading the way on constant web surveillance, with the installations of new tiny live cameras all around the world that are practically impossible to see from far away.
Obviously, in a world with Edward Snowden and where people consciously put tape over the cameras on their laptops, the dangerous implications here are clear to us from the moment Eamonn introduces this new technology, which he calls “SeeChange,” but when delivered to a group of willing followers, those dangers are lost on them. So from there, Mae’s influence and role in The Circle grows, as she becomes a part of a community where social interactions shouldn’t be considered “extracurricular” and it’s encouraged for users to share every detail of their lives at all times.
Attempting to take on the issue of privacy in an era of growing technological surveillance is a courageous effort for any film to make. But while The Circle does manage to feel as scathing an indictment of society as an episode of Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror might feel, it’s not nearly as insightful or coherent as any installment of that anthology series. Instead, the impact of The Circle’s message is significantly lessened by its scattered editing and obvious plot machinations, which introduces seemingly important characters early on in the film and then has them be completely absent from it for long stretches of time. While several supporting actors suffer from this issue, none are quite as affected by it as John Boyega, one of the brightest and most talented young actors of his generation, who is introduced in a fantastic scene early on in the first act.
The film goes out of its way to shroud Boyega’s character in secrecy, making sure that the audience picks up on his importance to the story and world it’s depicting, but then later on answers every single question regarding his character with a disappointing level of laziness. He only has three real, full scenes in the film, and it’s a testament to Boyega’s talents that he manages to still give one of the best performances in The Circle, despite his character feeling like little more than a pawn to be used how the plot sees fit.
But for the most part, all of the film’s performances are spot-on. Emma Watson continues to light up the screen with her inherent charisma and experience, making Mae feel like a complete person, despite the fact that in all actuality she’s little more than a generalized metaphor for a generation that’s already used to being called gullible and naive by now.
Hanks gives one of the few villainous performances of his career here as well, chewing the scenery with cheerful delight as Bailey, costumed and written to be intentionally similar to every other tech company president based out of Silicon Valley, equal parts Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs. In fact, the only real weak link in the film’s cast is Ellar Coltrane, who plays one of Mae’s only non-Circle friends. Coltrane delivers his dialogue with a mumble and whine that makes him hard to like, especially when the film later tries to wring out emotional moments from his friendship with Mae.
To its credit, there are a handful of scenes when Ponsoldt and Eggers manage to capture a sense of terror and uncomfortability that’s needed in these kinds of foreboding satires. Moments such as when Mae realizes the dangers of being under constant surveillance, with it all delivered through dialogue given by actors wearing happy-go-lucky smiles, which only slightly betrays the menace hiding behind their words. The biggest problem is that The Circle tries to do too much at once. By offering biting commentary on social media, YouTube vloggers, Twitter and Facebook status updates, mandatory voting laws, and web surveillance all at once, the film is never quite able to offer anything new or particularly insightful on any of those topics.
The Verdict
The Circle feels like it could have benefited from more time in the editing room and a more streamlined script. It’s a film with a nihilistic perspective about society that’s appreciated and needed for this material, but without the necessary intelligence to help it really land with much impact. The Circle swings for the fences, but settles for little more than a line drive to first.
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire