Full Circle (Max) D: Soderbergh, S: Danes, Olyphant

[Dr. Seymour Love]

Max Original Limited Series "Full Circle" Debuts July 13

An investigation into a botched kidnapping uncovers long-held secrets connecting multiple characters and cultures in present day New York City.

· From director Steven Soderbergh and writer Ed Solomon, the Max Original limited series FULL CIRCLE debuts with two episodes THURSDAY, JULY 13 on Max. The six-episode series will continue with two episodes weekly leading up to the finale on Thursday, July 27.

· Logline: An investigation into a botched kidnapping uncovers long-held secrets connecting multiple characters and cultures in present day New York City.

· Cast: Zazie Beetz, Claire Danes, Jim Gaffigan, Jharrel Jerome, Timothy Olyphant, CCH Pounder, Phaldut Sharma, Adia, Sheyi Cole, Gerald Jones, Suzanne Savoy, Ethan Stoddard, Lucian Zanes and Dennis Quaid.

· Credits: FULL CIRCLE is executive produced and directed by Steven Soderbergh. Ed Solomon is writer and executive producer. Casey Silver is executive producer.

Full Circle | Official Teaser | Max - YouTube

[Heinz-Klett]

Full Circle | Official Trailer | Max - YouTube

[eightslicesofpie]

Haven't watched any trailers but the cast and Soderbergh are enough to convince me

[BluBonnet]

‘Full Circle’ Review: Claire Danes and Zazie Beetz in Steven Soderbergh’s Mixed-Bag Max Series

With the presumptive demise of physical media, there’s nothing I’m going to miss quite so much as DVD commentary tracks. It’s less the banal puffery and hagiographic nostalgia of 95 percent of them and more the occasional recording on which somebody would unload with two hours of candor, whether it’s Ben Affleck talking Armageddon or the delicate dance performed by Steven Soderbergh and screenwriter Lem Hobbs discussing The Limey.

That Limey commentary track is a spectacular illustration of how great movies can still be made even if two key creative forces aren’t on the same page regarding much of anything. It’s also a reminder of how often the things that Soderbergh does behind the camera aren’t always aligned with whatever might have been the initial goals of whoever wrote the screenplay — and nor need they be, necessarily.

Soderbergh and writer Ed Solomon have what appears to be a solid partnership, including the largely forgotten experimental HBO series Mosaic and the intriguingly convoluted HBO Max feature No Sudden Move. Solomon and Soderbergh’s latest collaboration, the star-studded Max six-parter Full Circle, is more convoluted than experimental and it definitely feels like an example of a project in which the things that interest one principal aren’t a priority for the other.

A kidnapping thriller — the shades of Kurosawa’s High and Low are many — with international implications, Full Circle is an odd show. Soderbergh’s virtuosity behind the camera keeps the series compelling and you can frequently spot the elements that made Solomon want to tell this story in the first place. But in terms of the unifying values you might hope for given the series’ title and its myriad top-shelf names? Well, the storylines may come together, but Full Circle does not.

Written entirely by Solomon and directed entirely by Soderbergh, the show offers a three-pronged narrative.

We begin in Guyana, with the introduction of Xavier (Sheyi Cole) and Louis (Gerald Jones), teens looking for passage to the United States, where they’re hoping to join Louis’ sister Natalia (Adia) in Queens. Natalia is a massage therapist and acupuncturist whose clients include local Guyanese kingpin Savitri Mahabir (CCH Pounder).

Mahabir is preparing for a kidnapping that involves the teenage son (Ethan Stoddard’s Jared) of Sam (Claire Danes) and Derek (Timothy Olyphant), the creative forces behind the lucrative culinary brand fronted by Sam’s father Jeffrey (Dennis Quaid, with a grotesque ponytail).

The kidnapping, orchestrated by Mahabir’s nephew and Natalia’s fiance Aked (Jharrel Jerome), goes wrong and intersects with a pre-existing investigation conducted by the U.S. Postal Inspector Service. Agent Harmony (Zazie Beetz) wants in on the case, but she has psychological issues, making her boss, Manny Broward (Jim Gaffigan), hesitant to hand over the responsibilities. That’s too bad, because Agent Harmony has a Sherlockian understanding of human nature, if a limited understanding of her own nature.

As is inevitable in shows like this — and as you might expect from a show with this title — everything and everybody in Full Circle is connected and everything and everybody in Full Circle is connected to events from 20 years ago. Are the misadventures in the present day the result of decades of interlocking secrets and bad choices, or is there a curse in play? Or are all curses, no matter how spiritually convincing, just the result of bad choices come full circle? Well, duh.

Plot-wise, Full Circle is ungainly. There’s probably only enough story for a two-hour movie. But there’s some cleverness to the way Solomon makes sure that the devices he’ll need to push the story forward are introduced early, and elegance to the way he and Soderbergh pay them off.

For a show in which characters are constantly being shocked by what they’re learning, none of those surprises carry over to the audience. When the finale rolls around, there’s no way to tie everything together without bushels of exposition, delivered gamely by Danes and Beetz. The last thing that “happens” in the series comes with maybe 45 minutes to go and then it’s just everybody talking through things that either viewers will have figured out already or that viewers weren’t given enough information to deduce.

[BudBaxter]

Anyone watch this?

Thought it was really well done myself. A great cast firing on all cylinders, (though Olyphant & Quaid felt a little underused), the plot was nicely convoluted & the score was superb.

The only minor downsides for me were Zazie Beetz' intensely irritating character (but hey, maybe that was the point) & I couldn't quite get my head round the fact that it was a 'Postal Inspector' trying to solve everything rather than a cop or an FBI agent or something. I don't think we have such things in the UK & if we do, I'd expect them to be looking for lost mail, not solving kidnapping & murder cases...

Overall though, loved it. A big thumbs up from me.

[An4h0ny]

Watched the first episode and loved it.

Surprised this thread isn't busier.

[Fakejb]

I’m going to watch it soon. After I watch the new Justified.

[jdeare]

Have watched 2 episodes so far. I like it but don't love it. I find a number of the characters annoying but that may be on purpose. Regardless I'll finish it.