Bloodtype Online

    When I receive independent movies, of which I know very little about, I am always a little sceptical as to how the actual product will turn out. Recently I have been fairly lucky, with some real gems turning up, but none have been quite so surreal, for want of a better word, than Circulation directed by Ryan Harper. To say that it is a strange little affair would be an understatement. To add that it is a very well made, not to mention original, flick would also be quite true to say. 

    The plot follows Ana, a waitress in Mexico, who makes plans to get away and meet up with her lover for the weekend at a hotel. Whilst travelling there though her car breaks down and who should pass by to offer her a lift but her ex-husband and a couple of his friends. Not wanting to get in the car with them Ana tries to make a run for it, but to no avail as they soon catch her and bundle her into the car. They are not too much further down the road when they themselves crash, which allows Ana to make her escape. 

    Before too long Ana is picked up by Gene, an American tourist, who is heading south on vacation. He speaks no Spanish and she speaks no English, they do however seem to come to understand each other with Gene agreeing to drop Ana off at her destination. 

    The further into the film it gets though the stranger things seem to be, with Gene and Ana both seeming to develop animal, or insect, lie behaviour. You see, if you had been paying attention to Gene's earlier narration would would realise that he, along with everyone else, is infact dead. They are trapped in a purgatory-like afterlife where they are learning the behaviour of certain creatures; Gene a spider and Ana a Catarpillar, in readiness for their time to be reborn as the said creatures. 

    Now, reading that may make it sound a little ridiculous maybe? Well it did to me when I first read the synopsis, but in actual fact the movie works exceptionally well. You might want to watch it through a couple of times in order to digest everything, in fact I would recommend you do. It is well worth it though. 

    The movie is very nicely shot, with plenty of beautiful shots of the Mexican scenery all crisply captured and some assured camerawork. This certainly isn't a case of someone grabbing a video camera and deciding that they are going to make a movie, there is a far more polished look to proceedings than that. This all all helped along by some solid acting performances, especially Sherman Koltz as Gene and Yvonne DeLaRosa as Ana who spend a lot of onscreen time together, even though in the movie they cannot understand what each other is saying. For me this just heightened the sense of surrealism involved. 

    Circulation wasn't without its problems though. I did happen to spy the shadow of the cameraman in one scene, which always pisses me off, and the animation in the dream sequences did seem a little poorly done which distracted me at times from the rest of the movie. That being said, Circulation was an intelligent and quite original movie that will make you think as you are watching it, and as such does require a certain amount of attention to be paid during its running time. 

    A very promising effort from this first time director. 

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- Jude Felton