Circle Jerk

Movies: Circle

I've mentioned on this blog before that my reviews tend to skew positive for the simple reason that I actively seek out movies I think I'll like and avoid ones I think I won't like.

I also like to read up on movies before seeing them--sometimes even going as far as spoiling the ending for myself before seeing it. So it's rare for me to watch a movie that 1) I know nothing about and 2) turns out to be garbage.

Circle is such a movie. Directed by Aaron Hann and Mario Miscione, Circle was released directly to Netflix (at least it never had a theatrical release and has no ratings on Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic) in 2015. The premise of the film is that a group of 50 people--all races and ages--wake up in a black chamber. They are standing on lit circles and if they try to step off the circle, a buzzer goes off, they are struck by what seems to be an electrical current, and they die. Additionally, every minute a person is randomly electrocuted and they die.

The group quickly realizes that, in fact, these executions are not random and that they can individually vote on people to die. Whoever gets the most votes is killed. While trying to figure out what's going on, a man suggests that the group buys time by together choosing to kill off all the people in their 70's or older because "they've lived their life". After each death they have about one minute to discuss and strategize.

You can see where all this is going. The message of Circle appears to be that in extreme circumstances, most people will panic and do anything to save themselves and only a valiant few will refuse to let the prospect of death rob them of their ethics and dignity. But this message is so incredibly ham-fisted that the film feels like it was written and directed by college sophomores who have just realized, like, hey man...people, like, make unfair judgements all the time. But you can't claim some lives matter more than others!! 

To illustrate the awkwardness of Circle, here are just a few things that happen in the movie (spoilers...in case you actually want to watch this garbage):

• At one point in the film, a character says "Everyone! Kill the black guy!" And they do.
• After it is revealed that one of the women in the circle is a lesbian, a white man who turns out to be a lawyer and who is wearing a dress shirt and suspenders (dude looks like he stepped right off the set of Wall Street) tries to convince the others to kill her next so that her child can be raised in a normal home.
• A man claims "95% of people believe in God" when an argument about religion breaks out.
• It is assumed from the get-go that the "winner" of the circle will either be the young child or the pregnant woman and the group forms two factions: the "evil" faction that wants to kill the kid and the pregnant lady so they can have a better chance of winning themselves and the "good" faction that aims to protect the kid and pregnant lady.

In other words, Circle is a lazy, obvious, clumsy attempt to make people think about how, like, you can't judge a person by their outward appearance man! Unless they're a child or a pregnant lady--then you totally CAN judge them because, according to this film, they are OBVIOUSLY worth more to society and thus "good" people will protect them and are willing to sacrifice their lives for them.

Circle is sophomoric and subpar as a film in almost every way. The dialogue is like someone on a megadose of valium trying to hit you with a baseball bat: it's clearly offensive, but in such a clumsy way that it's more hilarious than hurtful. The characters are incredibly two-dimensional, which is kind of the point, but it's hard to take a film where there are characters named "The Atheist", "The Soldier", "The Pregnant Girl" (side note: pregnant girl?? She's clearly in her 20's), and "The Lesbian" seriously.

I don't even get what the point is. Is the point that we're supposed to look beyond simple stereotypes when we judge other people? Or is it that people DON'T look beyond stereotypes and never will, so why bother trying?

I'm going to spoil the ending and you should go ahead and read it because if you watch this movie of your own volition after reading this review, you have no one to blame but yourself.

Ok, so a random white dude "wins" the circle because he was trifling the whole time--trying to act like he was a good guy and wanting to protect the poor little girl and poor pregnant lady from dying. But actually, this sneaky bastard, he waits until they are the only two left and then tells them "One of you will have to sacrifice yourself for the other" and when the little girl, sobbing, agrees to sacrifice herself and steps off her circle (and thus dies), this sneaky SOB votes for the pregnant lady, killing her.

BUT IT'S NOT OVER YET. Whenever there is a tie--i.e. two people get the same number of votes--a shaft of light hovers over the people who have tied and everyone has to vote for one or the other. So after this guy kills the pregnant lady, I fucking shit you not, a shaft of light hovers over him---AND THE LADY'S FUCKING BELLY. GET IT??? IT'S THE FETUS!!!! MIND BLOWN!!!

So then he votes against the fetus and kills it, which, ohmigod, shows how evil he is because unborn babies are people too (according to this film, very likely MORE worthy of living than the vessel woman carrying them).

BUT IT'S STILL NOT OVER. Once this douchebag "wins" the contest or experiment or whatever the fuck it was, he's magically transported to what looks like Los Angeles--he's outside in a big city with a bunch of other people (circle winners, presumably, given that like half of them are pregnant ladies). And there's a giant UFO circling overhead.

Yes, viewers. The mystery of the circle was...

And then the movie ends. Because why explore the real questions of this film (why aliens? why the experiment? what happens next?) when you could be devoting time to people yelling "Everyone! Kill the black guy!"

Grade: F+

Shirts vs. Skinheads

Movies: Green Room

Green Room is a rare film that offers gory grind house thrills, but with intelligence, clever twists, and great acting.

Directed by Jeremy Saulnier, whose previous film, Blue Ruin, was a critical success, Green Room follows punk band The Ain't Rights as they scrounge for enough money to make it from the Pacific Northwest back home to Arlington, VA. The band is flat broke, reduced to siphoning gas from other cars since they can't afford to buy it themselves. A friend of theirs who is also a local radio show host sets them up with a gig at a backwoods bar outside of Portland.

The only catch is...it's a skinhead bar.

The Ain't Rights foolishly, and befittingly punk-y, open their set with a cover of the Dead Kennedy's "Nazi Punks Fuck Off", which pisses off the crowd. However, the rest of their show goes well and it seems that they're going to make it out unscathed and a few dollars richer. But as they head out, one of the band members, Pat (Anton Yelchin), runs back to the green room to grab fellow band member Sam's (Alia Shawkat) cell phone...only to stumble onto the scene of a murder.

The situation quickly descends into chaos, with the bouncers forcing the band back into the room and calling club owner Darcy (a chilling Patrick Stewart) to figure out what to do. The Ain't Rights aren't naive--they know that the neo-Nazis who run this club aren't just going to let them go after they've witnessed a murder.

And so Green Room becomes a taut, breathless stand-off between the very disadvantaged band, plus Amber, a friend of the girl who was killed, and the skinheads who are armed to the teeth. The band has no weapons and are outnumbered. The skinheads have guns, knives, attack dogs, and "true believers"--young men willing to both kill and die for the Brotherhood. The fact that they're neo-Nazis is almost beside the point--they could just be any old group of violent goons--but it does raise the stakes since the bad guys are blindly invested in a violent, hierarchical lifestyle ("This isn't a party---it's a movement" says Darcy at one point, getting applause from the crowd).

When the violence begins it is incredibly gruesome, though never gratuitous. Unlike the cartoonish grindhouse violence of a Tarantino film, or the stomach-churning endless torture of the Hostel and Saw series, Green Room holds back to a degree, relying more on suspense mixed with brief bursts of realistic violence. That said, I wouldn't recommend this film to those with weak stomachs.

Green Room also has intelligent writing and plot twists. It shows, rather than tells. For example, Darcy tells his goons to only let people "with red laces" into the room where the murder happened. The film doesn't explain what he means by this, but the viewer figures out that red shoe laces indicate someone who is a "true believer" in Nazism and has proven their loyalty to Darcy. There were indeed a few times where I got a bit confused about the plot--particularly around the identity of the murdered girl and why she was murdered--but I was ultimately able to figure everything out and I appreciated that the film didn't rely on heavy exposition.

All this in addition to Patrick Stewart's excellent performance as the calculating, calm Darcy--who, against all reason, seems "safe" because of his British accent and genteel manners, even when he's ordering his goons to kill the band. It's a pleasure to watch Stewart play such an evil, charming character.

As I said at the beginning of the review, Green Room promises--and delivers--violent gore and Naziploitation. But it does so in a masterful, intelligent way that transcends the horror/suspense/grindhouse genres. To use an analogy, it's like going to a burger joint and realizing they serve prime cuts of grass-fed beef along with house-made dipping sauces. You thought you were getting the standard, greasy junk food, but actually you got a carefully cultivated meal. Saulnier's Green Room is a heart-pounding, delicious treat of a film.

Grade: A