Circle of Eight (2009)

Thanks for the memories!

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Only after reading the reviews here , I came to the realization that this is no ordinary film . I wasn't even going to rate it let alone write a review , because I couldn't understand the ending , where did Jessica and Evan go , what happened to others etc etc This movie gives out a message so important , that we have lived our lives far too many times to be making the same mistakes over and over again . But we make them anyway . It's about reincarnation . Our faces change , bodies change , voices change , but our souls have remained the same since thousands of years and probably many more years than that , but we keep making the same mistakes every time . 😔 Because our memories are " erased " and don't know what we were and wrong we did in our previous lives . > All the memories of the previous journeys are gone , all erased . No matter how beautiful or bad the journeys were , we have to start from the beginning , so if you don't wanna start afresh and just want the cycle of life and death to end right here , start to act better , try to clean your heart of all the dirt , start loving with a more open heart , realize the power of 'pure love' . > As Rob Broekhof has written above , in user reviews , in such a marvellous sentence saying "Still, when you finally realize your lesson in life, take that chance! ". So " when you FINALLY come across the lesson of your life , learn the lesson , take the chance to improve yourself " , "Remember! these can be the little things in your daily life , after all , trying to be a better person is a life long learning process " that is what life is really about , TO KEEP IMPROVING OURSELVES , KEEP BETTERING OURSELVES AS HUMAN BEINGS . Changing our attitude , being nicer is the KEY 😊 💖So the souls around you , your destiny , will MAKE YOU DO THE RIGHT THING EVENTUALLY , THEY WILL KEEP PUSHING YOU , THEY WILL KEEP GUIDING YOU , THEY WILL MAKE YOU CHOOSE THE RIGHT PATH ,THEY WILL MAKE YOU DO THE RIGHT THING , NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU RUN AWAY FROM THEM , NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU RUN AWAY FROM YOUR DESTINY , THEY WILL KEEP MAKING YOU DO THE RIGHT THING UNTIL YOU BREAK THE CIRCLE OF LIFE AND DEATH AND ACHIEVE ENLIGHTENMENT. BEAUTIFUL , JUST BEAUTIFUL 💖 Many people have written such good reviews that I don't feel like adding new points . I agree to other users , that it's a loop , " what goes around , comes around " .Probably she was supposed to die with her brother , that her fear was real , that both of them will die by drowning because her brother was heavier for her to pull out of the water . But she saved herself and let him drown . Now she was given the second chance that she had always asked for . She got a second chance not once but thousands of time , but kept repeating the same behaviour , the same mistake , having an erased memory of the previous events , she kept leaving Evan to die at the end and all the other souls were stuck like that with her in that building , because the cycle continued because of her " failed attempt " . Everyone remembered the previous events , but Jessica . Finally she did what was right , she did not leave Evan's side and died with him in the fire . SHE BROKE THE CYCLE , FINALLY!!!!! The other souls finally heaved a sign of relief 😊 There might be problems in execution , production , acting and other things of the film , but the concept and the story were superb! :) The message was beautiful . ➡Wish it had a more clear ending , like what happened to Evan and Jessica 💖 finally and what will now become of the other people in the building . >Again , I thank the reviewers who took time to write their thoughts down , you made me understand things better :) , you made me see things better :) , you made me realize an important lesson in life , no matter how far and how fast I run away from my destiny , it's coming towards me to get me with an even greater speed .>WHAT'S MEANT TO BE , WILL BE . IT WILL FIND IT'S WAY .> WE CAN'T RUSH IT , OR RUN AWAY FROM IT . It's a nice film .

A variation on "Groundhog Day", with the difference that everyone except the main character knows they're existing in a loop. The movie is set up in a fairly interesting way, but establishing an interesting set-up is always the much easier part. The harder part is RESOLVING it - at least in a logical way. Apparently, the lazy writers couldn't find a neat enough way out of their writer's block so they left the ending open.About as wide open as a prostitute's t**t. Basically, the viewer is free to interpret the movie in a wide variety of ways. In other words, there is no explanation given, not enough clues are offered for any viewer to present a strong case for their favourite theory, hence the movie has no real meaning. It's a tried-and-true confidence trick that's been used in films for decades. Stuck with no ending to a complex, bizarre plot? Just end the movie without explanation, and hope that enough people will be too embarrassed to admit that they don't understand it so they come up with various semi-baloney theories to save face, and that way pretend as if they both understood and enjoyed the film. The inferiority complex related to the viewer's own intellectual (in)abilities has been a great friend and ally to the more pretentious (i.e. lazy and incompetent charlatan film-makers). What would they do without it.As far as the enjoyment factor goes, it's by no means a terrible movie. It isn't dull, for one thing. Secondly, movies with an interesting set-up but no conclusion are at least fun to watch before they implode at the end. That's better than nothing. And it's certainly better than the opposite: a boring movie that explodes at the end, like "The Village" with its excellent ending for which the viewer unfortunately had to sit through 100 minutes of tedium and awful acting by a nepotistic cast of anti-talents. I'd rather have fun for 90 minutes and then be disappointed at the end – given a choice between the two extremes.To anyone who is desperately trying to take this movie more seriously than it truly deserves, consider this: the early lesbian scene. There was absolutely no point to it, except to titillate the more desperate viewers. It had exactly zero to do with the story. Consider also the amazingly overlong intro which includes Jessica singing along to the ENTIRE damn song. So was this movie just a means to promote a hit-single wannabe? That song is awful, it's annoying, and we didn't have to be exposed to each and every of its 45 crappy choruses.Jessica had expressed a desire to repeat the drowning event with her younger brother, i.e. have another go in which she'd save him. So why didn't she get THAT (her brother and a batch of water) instead of this whole nonsense with the "Dante" building? OK, fine, the name itself is a dead giveaway, of course she is in some kind of Hell. But WHY? Why is she in Hell? Because she didn't save her brother? That would be ludicrous, even by the many moronic religious criteria.A reviewer (rather desperately but imaginatively) suggested that Jessica's loop may have to do with a Buddhist belief related to reincarnation and going through the same loop (i.e. life) until you stop making the same mistakes. Even if the writers did have that in mind (which is doubtful, hint-hint: lesbian scene), it wouldn't explain that much. Besides, does anyone truly find LOGIC in that particular religious belief? You're punished for your "sins" by repeating them over and over, without KNOWING that you'd committed them a zillion times? That makes no sense. What kind of a chance at "redemption" does that leave you? And once you've finally stopped making that mistake, you stop existing! That makes even less sense. Perhaps you have to be a Buddhist monk (or Richard Gere) in order to understand this line of reasoning, probably by giving it some bizarre spin that doesn't sound utterly ridiculous only to the fanatially faithful.There is also the suggestion that Jessica one day burnt down the building and "dragged" the other tenants into this hellish loop, and the day is repeating over and over so that by sacrificing herself for hunk-boy she may give them all a chance to finally rest in peace(?) or live on(?). But WHY would the others be punished for her sloppiness with matches and fire? Illogical. If the other tenants are all in Hell as well, why is SHE the one whose actions decide whether they get to break the cycle or not? What maker her so damn special? Illogical.The rather flimsy credibility of CO8 hangs by a very thin thread. How thin? It's like a one-armed man hanging on to a cliff's edge with three fingers while elephants are being tied to his feet to drag him down tumbling. That's how barely the logic in the story holds out without collapsing in on itself – even with outside help (such as the Buddhist-related explanation).I'm all for intriguing movies with ambiguous endings, but they do have to give you a fighting chance to wonder about the conclusion. However, there is a distinct difference between an equation with one or two unknowns and an equation with a dozen unknowns. The latter type of equation does not have a solution. X+U-Jx3-R/G-H+B=X-1 is an unsolvable mess, not an intriguing mystery. Learn to distinguish between the two, ye who art cast out of excessively optimistic, naive material.

You know there are two types of movie watchers out there. Passive watchers who kind of just put a movie in and if the mood,day,lighting and everything is right they like it. The problem is with these people when they don;t pay attention to them a movie is "flawed" or "filled with plot holes". These are the people that, for whatever reason have short attention spans and spend more time trying to find similarities to other movies so they can call it a ripoff of something else(I mean isn't everything a ripoff of something else at this point?) then just sit back and enjoy.Then you have the second bunch of people who when they sit down to watch a movie its like a ritual to them. And they may get really into the movies they watch. They don't want to talk during or discuss the movie while its on and they're not easily distracted to begin with. I fall in the latter group as do a few reviewers here. This movie is not bad at all and it definitely doesn't deserve its low rating.I mean this isn't a cookie cutter movie, but it also doesn't take a genius to understand...just your attention span and 1 and a half hours of your life.To possible viewers, no this movie isn't flawed, it isn't a flawed mess either. Everything is right there its just up to you to put the puzzle together. If you only like movies that are cut and dry with an answer for everything then you probably won't like this.If you want to turn your mind off from the world, then this is a great flick. Don;t watch it with a bunch of friends though because it requires your attention.6 out of 10 stars is an Honest to goodness revies for this movie that I expected to be in the 5-6.5 range.

This movie starts out with a young girl moving into a new apt in the city. The first thing I noticed was that she only has one box of stuff with her? I kind of get the the story line somewhat. Some things they show...like the two lesbians making out in the dark, dank building made no sense. What was the reason? The never show them again. Another thing that bothered me was that Jessica never locked her doors! Here she is a single woman living by herself in a nasty rundown apt building with a bunch of strange people who are always popping into her apt uninvited! You would think she would learn to lock her doors...at one point she was taking a bath and again Evan walks in on her....HELLO lock your doors girl! I must say that the best part in the movie was Ed! Too many holes in this movie...could have been much better!