O Círculo da Morte

In THE CIRCLE, Jay (Angela Bettis) is a woman on a mission to keep her husband from being assassinated. We go along with her as she pleads with the hitman, trying to get him to relent.

If you can get past the shot-on-video look of the movie, about half of it is pretty good. The problem lies in the "one continuous shot" approach. While this would have been quite effective in a short film, at 100 minutes it gets tedious.

On the positive side, the off-camera set changes and other devices used to make the scene connections are impressive. Ms. Bettis is convincing in her harried role, and there are some interesting characters in the strip club sequence.

The twist ending isn't bad, but it's a bit of a slog to get there...

Saw this movie in Cannes, and can't stop thinking about it. What an amazing piece of work! First of all, technically it's astounding -- the film is done in one uninterrupted take, and the visual acrobatics of this Mount Everest of shots are just incredible. I can't even begin to imagine the amount of planning, rehearsals, sweat and tears that went into this "one-shot wonder". Second, the story, the performances, and everything else in this movie is just brilliant. Angela Bettis -- where have you been hiding all my life? An unbelievable actress who grabs you by the throat (and the heart) and never lets go. All in all, this is a heartbreaking, inspiring, visionary movie -- a modern masterpiece.

Very unusual experience this film. Refreshingly, I didn't know what to expect at any given moment. The energy of the film was almost gorilla-like. The filming of the movie seemed very raw and simplistic, with a mysterious feel. I found myself eerily captivated. And the most interesting part is the dialog, simple, yet if you don't pay attention, you miss so much, even the most inane conversation is important to the plot line, brilliant! This is the first truly independent film I've seen in years. I recommend this film to anyone tired of the clean Hollywood feel of so called "independent films" these days. If you want an honest, no frills movie experience, check out this movie, you won't know WHAT hit you when your done!

This movie -- absolutely fantastic! On the technical level it's pure genius -- a single uninterrupted take, almost a hundred minutes, is spellbinding. The director, Yuri Zeltser, has performed a miracle, plain and simple. Well, not too simple -- making this movie must have been a mammoth undertaking. Now, the story starts off as a thriller/mystery, but then dives deeper and deeper into human psychology and metaphysics. Mindbending, almost hallucinogenic stuff. The acting -- stunning, especially the brilliant Angela Bettis. Why aren't we seeing more of this amazing actress? One exception -- David Proval (from the Sopranos), who thinks he is Al Pacino and overacts a bit (to put it mildly). Overall -- grand entertainment. 10 stars out of ten.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this film, so I just went into it hoping for an enjoyable thriller. The Circle actually gets off to a fairly intriguing start, as we are introduced to the main characters - Stan, a hit man and Jay; the wife of the man he was hired to kill. The first half of the film plays out pretty much like a straight thriller as we watch the pair interact and end up getting themselves into a tricky situation; but then it would seem that the writer started experimenting with some strange hallucinogenic drugs as the film descends into the surreal, and rather than being interesting; it's mostly ridiculous - even the end twist (which is fairly imaginative) isn't enough to save what should have been a straight thriller. The central focus of the plot is on Jay and how she tries to persuade the hit man to not kill her husband. Obviously even going to see him puts her in a compromising position; but strangely it does him also.

The plot is fairly thin, and the focus is mainly on the characters. However, they're really not all that interesting; Scott Cohen is completely one-note as the hit man, while the usually solid Angela Bettis overacts to such an extend that I found myself feeling embarrassed for her at times. Whatever the director was trying to achieve with the characters really doesn't come off. There are a couple of interesting scenes; the best one being a lesbian(ish) sequence between Bettis and a stripper. The surreal elements of the film don't feel right considering the build up to them; I got the impression that the writer-director didn't really know where to take the film after the initial plot was set out, though maybe he always had the idea for where the film was going and the plot is the filler - either way, The Circle is one disjointed movie. Overall, I can't say that this film is without its merits - there are a few, but really I'd just call it a failed experiment.