Manthast
Absolutely amazing
SeeQuant
Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction
Joanna Mccarty
Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.
Allissa
.Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.
Panorama
***THIS REVIEW DEFINITELY CONTAINS SPOILERS***I really wanted to love this movie. I watched the Directors cut. I didn't quite hate it but it did fall way short of it's potential.I was a circuit boy in NYC from about 1989 - 2004 and I've never been to any party that looked as lame (except for one in San Francisco) as the ones shown in this movie--and it's actually ABOUT circuit parties as the title would suggest. I would have wanted my money and my drugs back from any of the parties in the movie.The subject of circuit parties, drugs and sex is extremely complicated but it was my experience that it's the minority who get lost in the scene and destroy their lives.These people, likely, have addictive personalities to begin with.Most people I knew who were deeply into the circuit party scene were pretty responsible about it and had extremely responsible jobs, careers and lives outside of the scene ranging from doctors to nurses to architects to construction workers to pilots to politicians to television personalities to teachers to scientific researchers to name a few.So, in my opinion, the movie only focused on a minority of people who got very lost in the scene and life--which is fine. But, the movie really needed a way to explain that that was its point of view instead of making it look like anyone who goes to circuit parties is like that. It would have been easy to have included a character who went to an occasional circuit party, did drugs, recovered, and went on functioning in real life--like most circuit boys do. This would have been an easy way to show that there is another type who attends circuit parties (the majority) and that the movie was focusing on the worst case scenario.Besides the movie's many obvious shortcomings mentioned in many other reviews, my 3 major issues with the film are:1. The music. It was absolutely horrible, low end, lame, obscure, undanceable and very forgettable--except for the remake of High. I understand the movie had a very low budget but there are certain things in a movie about circuit parties where corners (like getting rights to good/real circuit party songs) cannot be cut.2. It didn't show anything about how horrific it is and how long it takes to come down from the drugs taken at a circuit party--the week of being extremely tired, cranky and depressed while the body is recovering from being poisoned and the brain is attempting to produce serotonin again naturally.I'm all for doing the right drugs and the right amount of them with the right timing at circuit parties--that's what these parties are all about and they aren't worth attending if drugs (especially x and k) aren't involved. Drugs are part of the ritual and, in fact, are responsible for creating the ritual. But, what goes up must come down and that part ain't fun. The movie showed none of that. If someone actually went out every night (like John apparently did in the movie) and did that amount of drugs, at best he would be so wiped out and depressed he wouldn't be able to get out of bed for a week after only a few days of straight partying. At worst he'd easily die of an overdose.3. Why in the world would a special bullet containing some mystery drug that can kill someone with one bump even exist in the party scene (or at all) and why would someone bring it to a circuit party? What was it (the movie never mentioned what the drug actually was)? Who was Hector expected to sell it to at the White Party? This ridiculous and completely unbelievable, manufactured premise to end Hectors life was a huge, unforgivable and nonsensical flaw in this movie. Hector could have easily killed himself in a much more believable way by simply overdosing on his drug/drugs of choice--maybe by doing several giant bumps of k and washing down a handful of x with a huge glass of G--that oughta do the trick.What this movie did do for me was make me long for my circuit boy party days where I had some of the best times of my life high as a kite on a dance floor dancing to amazing music of the late 1980's - 1990's with friends and falling in and out of love with a mysterious, high, beautiful, stranger from some far away, exotic place who would be the man of my dreams for a few hours or one night...only until the drugs wore off.This is why I gave the movie 5 stars.
Daniel Humphrey (saltsan)
Well
almost. At its best, "Circuit" reminds one of the scope,wit, and compelling nature of PT Anderson's "Boogie Nights" and"Magnolia", or even Robert Altman's "Nashville", and one suspectsthat had the director had more money, a better cast and crew, andmaybe the help of a script doctor, this film could have been asgreat as those films. Despite uneven performances, dialog, andplotting, "Circuit" does a good job of conveying the ambivalenceinherent it the contemporary American circuit scene. Yes, thescene can seem both exciting and shallow at the same time
dangerous and alluring, soulless and sexy, liberating anddestructive. There's no contradiction in conveying that, exceptingthe very real contradictions in life about all things that have mixedbenefits and drawbacks. It's a sign of the filmmakers maturity thatthey can show both sides of the many issues with a good deal ofcomplexity. The biggest drawback, for me anyway, was the film'smelodramatic and contrived ending, murder plot and all. Still, myboyfriend an I were always entertained, staying up till 3 a.m. tofinish this reasonably well-done effort.
meerkats
A small town gay man move to big city for his inside dream. plot and story is not really important in this film. But Andre Khabazzi as Hector did great acting. He is only one character who can make this film worthy to see. But yes, if you want to see gay film, you can find this interesting. And some other characters just come and go and even unimportant scene we can see in this film. But I enjoy to see this film again, to see Andre Khabazzi or Hector play his role.
MichaelWeihn
Dirk Shafer, Playgirl's man of the year a few years back has put together a little bit of heaven & hell in this nugget of gay club-life in the city of angels. Although the acting is only mediocre, the direction, script, and overall film is very good. Dirk uses just the right amount of music, drugs, sex, exploitation, and beefcake to hit the nail on the head. The story revolves around a smalltown Illinois former cop named John who moves to L.A. & discovers sex, drugs, and techno. What's also interesting is the supporting cast of William Katt, JM J. Bullock, Nancy Allen, andPaul Lekakis. The music is great as well with new cuts from Taylor Dayne, Lonnie Gordon, and a slow remake of E.G. Daily's Love in the Shadows. For those that love the circuit, for those now out of the circuit, and for those who are oblivious to the circuit, watch and learn.