Strictly speaking, The Circle is science fiction, positing a near future when one technology company (seemingly a mixture of Apple, Google and Facebook, in my view) sets itself up as a global power.  The Circle (the corporation) is surprisingly aided by its newest employee, young Mae Holland (Emma Watson), who through chance, foolishness and surveillance, rises meteorically to corporate significance and public fame.  But there is a dark side to the company, and Mae will have to decide if she is willing to sell her soul to a corporation, no matter what the reward.

James Ponsoldt’s film is believable and convincing — up to a point.  It is also troubling and far-fetched.  Truth be told, with as much as it has to say about a lot of things, it winds up meandering in different directions, finally choosing one that I did not expect, nor desire. Certain films, like this one and Transcendence, tackle premises that can affect everyone in the civilized world, but then don’t know exactly how to direct their stories to the grand conclusions to which they aspire.  The Circle‘s conclusion is odd to me, certainly not satisfying, and raises more questions than answers.  Maybe it is the most realistic scenario, but if it is, I think we’re all in deep, deep trouble (should things actually transpire as the movie would have us believe).

The film’s script (written by Ponsoldt and Dave Eggers, based on Eggers’ novel) dances around the issues of privacy and free will, preferring to extol the virtues of community and shared knowledge without secrecy.  This kind of a world is creepy to me, but I will admit that the film makes its Circle community seem attractive and even beneficial.  It’s a persuasive scenario, yet I kept waiting for the insidious side to bring tensions to the boiling point before it all comes crashing down.  That does not happen.  Despite clear, incontrovertible evidence that the Circle willingly violates privacy concerns, people just keep accepting its progress toward virtual global citizenship, almost like a cult.  Mae leads the revolution herself, backed by corporate heads Eamon Bailey (Tom Hanks) and Tom Stenton (Patton Oswalt).  At least until the end, when she has her own ideas about how the future should arrive.

I love the story’s dimension and scope; there are dozens of societal themes and subjects and philosophical threads.  This truly is a film that has a lot to say about the world in which we live, and what it is destined to become.  And yet that huge scope is also its downfall, because it cannot possibly do justice to all of those important, personal tangents.  It’s a cautionary tale, yet I thought it would be (and should have been) even more cautionary than it is.  It’s a progressive tale, touting incredible capabilities and benefits that the internet and technology can bring to all of us; yet it recognizes that such progress can have unfortunate or even dire consequences.  It’s social commentary, noting how people around the world relate to Mae (both positively and negatively; read as many of the pop-up messages that she receives as you can), yet it also depicts how this technology actually distances us from one another.  As I said, there is a LOT going on here, which is increasingly rare in Hollywood films.

Ultimately, mainly because of the unexpected, diffused ending, I think it is less important than it should have been.  Perhaps I just don’t care for the future that Eggers and Ponsoldt envision, but I felt they simply kicked the can down the road instead of picking it up and doing something constructive with it.  There are also elements, especially within the corporate culture, that I didn’t believe rang true, and one major incident with Mae’s friend Mercer (Ellar Coltrane) that is not just obvious but telegraphed in capital letters.  While I appreciate the view of the future that The Circle provides in terms of storytelling and a foundation for discussion, I sincerely hope things will evolve differently.  ☆ ☆ ☆.  13 May 2017.