With gangsters, guns and plenty of violence, Bekir Kulozu has created a violent homage to the mafia genre with his incredibly entertaining Circle (2019). The plot is simple; a group of mafia bosses come together to play poker in a secret location while some of their subordinates plan to rob the game dry. Predictably, the narrative soon descends into an orgy of carnage and death as trigger happy gangsters blow each other apart with wanton abandon.
Kulozu keeps the story grounded, filling up his film with quirky characters who you know are going to bite the dust sooner or later. There is the head honcho Brando, played to perfection by Dominick Mancino while Ratnesh Dubey plays a random pizza delivery man who turns out to have a recurring but hysterical role throughout the whole story. Talented genius, Katrina Lenk, a 2018 Tony Award Best Actress winner, also illustrates her incredible talent in the film. Playing the disgruntled girlfriend of a mafia boss, Lenk brings depth and emotion to the role, easily becoming the most memorable part of the film. Lenk is a talented singer as well and several of her original songs are showcased in the film as well.
Kulozu does well to take his audience into the seedy New York underworld where one wrong move can get your head blown off. The violence is sudden but intense, the wit is sharp and there is an unending sense of dread about who eventually will turn up victorious and end up with the dirty money that everyone seems to have their eye on.
With fantastic performances, a good script that perfectly balances levity with violence and an assured director who knows where to take the story, Circle is as inspired by Martin Scorsese's and Guy Ritchie's works as it is by Quentin Tarantino's wit and violence. Kulozu has made a pretty neat picture, one that will resonate as well with the fans of the genre as with the casual moviegoers.
