The Circle (2002)

Some students at Runcie prep school form an elite club. The group is implicated in a cheating scandal and one of the club members dies mysteriously. Another member decides to try and discover the dangerous truth about Runcie.

Director:

Sidney J. Furie

Writer:

Brian Hannan

Stars:

Treat Williams, Robin Dunne, Gianpaolo Venuta

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Treat Williams	...	Mr. Spencer Runcie
Robin Dunne	...	Alex Desineau
Gianpaolo Venuta	...	Jetson Harlow (as Gian-Paolo Venuta)
Daniel Enright	...	Demian Carthy
Dylan Trowbridge	...	Baker Salsbury
J. Adam Brown	...	John Frazier
Jamie Robinson	...	Marcus Faulkner
Malin Akerman	...	Tess
Aaron Poole	...	Smitty Jacobson
Gordon Currie	...	Tom Wilkinson
Stewart Arnott	...	Mr. Turner
Alex Karzis	...	Detective Razatos
Anaya Farrell	...	Detective Sabrina
Ken James	...	Chief Lloyd Huxley
Dan Petronijevic	...	Bully #1 (as Daniel Petronijevic)

Storyline

Five friends unite to constitute a circle of sneaks and cheaters at a private boys boarding school. A file cabinet containing test papers is found tampered with and the group is implicated as a result of getting top grades for the paper. All A students are brought before the honors council for questioning. One member of the council, Smitty, vows intently to find the cheaters. Someone narcs on one of the Circle, Frazier, who soon expelled. The rest of the Circle agree to give the narc no mercy. They believe it was Faulkner, also an A student but not a member of the Circle. Faulkner is Alex's roommate; Alex is a member and believes he is innocent. Jetson Harlow, another member, sends Faulkner a fake rejection letter from MIT for revenge. Faulkner ends up dead, his death labeled a suicide.

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Plot Keywords:

torture | swimming pool | fistfight | false identity | fall | 

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Taglines:

Pledging Was Hell... Getting In Was Murder.

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Genres:

Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language, some sexual content and violence

User Reviews

could be my favorite

first i would like to debunk some of the negative reviews. people have written some of the following: the music was bad, the acting was bad, the story was confusing and hard to follow, and there are more. I thought the music was superb, and it really aided the movie. the acting was excellent and everyone was well cast. treat was flawless in his performance as Spencer runcie the headmaster of the school and reminded me of Michael Douglas. Robin Dunne stars as the main character, Alex who is sort of playing the role of a sherlock Holmes on campus trying to figure out all the loose ends of the tragic events taking place at runcie academy. he does an awesome job in this role and narrating throughout the movie.

the story for me was confusing when i first saw it only because i was not following it closely enough and paying attention to which character was which. this does not discredit the writing but is actually the fault of the viewer. now after seeing the film a couple more times i can understand what is happening and actually it is a positive aspect of the film that it takes a bit of your mind to understand what is happening. it is brilliantly written. i cant understand why people say it is a copy of this or that film, the only similarity is that it is in a prep school but it clearly is much different from dead poet's society or school ties and takes place many years later, it's a completely different film. i have to mention the actresses playing Tess and the female detective are both beautiful and add to the film this is the kind of movie that you can watch again and again like I do with other favorites eyes wide shut, the game, and what lies beneath. the setting is also interesting in the winter time. so all in all the different elements of this film come together to make it a masterpiece. i guess we all have different opinions and thats an interesting thing too.

Details

Country:

Canada USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 December 2002 (Spain)

Also Known As:

The Fraternity

Filming Locations:

Ridley College, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

CAD5,400,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

GFT Circle Films

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color