The Circle

In The Circle, Writer/Director James Ponsoldt and Co-Writer Dave Eggers have created a very interesting drama about privacy, albeit with a confusing resolution.

 First off, any movie starring Tom Hanks, Emma Watson, Glenne Headly and Bill Paxton, with Cinematography by Matthew Libatique and music by Danny Elfman is going to be well-produced and worthy of attention.  The Circle is certainly that.

Emma Watson’s character Mae joins a Google/Facebook-like corporation that creates ways of monitoring its members every move, supposedly for altruistic reasons.  She, eventually, drinks the Kool-Aid and supports the creation of even more invasive monitoring on the premise that privacy is not a right and everyone’s life should be an open book.

 

However, the death of a childhood friend (Ellar Coltrane) and her parents’ (Headly and Paxton) plea for the innate need for privacy has Mae turn the tables on her bosses (Hanks and Patton Oswalt).

Yet, the final shot is of Mae solo kayaking on a pristine lake, waving to a few drones, following her and the screen turning into a mosaic of real-time shots of people and incidents all over the world being broadcast to all.  What!?

I give The Circle a 3.6 out of 5.