Is it a mystical thriller?
A dark thriller?
A family chronicle or a social and historical presentation?
From its first episode, “Full Circle” goes in so many directions that this fiction is difficult to pin down.
The new series directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Ed Solomon – who marks his third collaboration with the filmmaker (after the series “Mosaic” and the film “No Sudden Move”) – starts on Canal + this Thursday, February 22 at 9:10 p.m.
On paper, the proposition is tempting, as the prestigious names follow one another in the credits: Claire Danes (“Homeland”, “Anatomy of Divorce”), Timothy Olyphant (“Deadwood”, “Justified”), CCH Pounder (“ The Shield", "NCIS: New Orleans"), Zazie Beetz ("Atlanta"), Dennis Quaid ("Traffic", "The Day After Tomorrow"), Jharrel Jerome ("In Their Eyes", "I'm a Virgo")… Accustomed to multiplying genres in his filmography, Steven Soderbergh has a blast behind the camera, delivering a stylized production with a frantic pace.
But this setting becomes a little artificial when it does not serve the storyline.
Which is quite difficult to follow.
The story, partly inspired by the film “Between Heaven and Hell” by Akira Kurosawa (1963), takes place in New York where the head of a mafia family of Guyanese origin learns of the murder of her brother .
Convinced that her clan is the victim of a curse lasting several generations, she consults her ancestors in South America to try to put an end to it.
Here she is who then orchestrates the kidnapping of the grandson of a man, nicknamed Chef Jeff, who has built a culinary empire (confusing Dennis Quaid).
We really don't understand the relationship between the two families, any more than the parents of the teenager receiving a ransom request for the improbable amount: 314,159 dollars (the digits of the number π).
Added to this are the investigations of a postal service inspector, who is looking into the actions of the Guyanese mafia.
A convoluted puzzle that keeps the viewer at bay
The whole point of the series rests on the unsuspected links between the many characters, their motivations and above all the secrets they hide.
Two social environments are placed in opposition which, however, have in common an inherited guilt, of different nature depending on the person.
It is also a question of the place of the individual within a family, of personal and collective ambitions.
That a scenario is complex is far from being a defect in itself (“Dark” on Netflix is the best example of a plot as dense as it is fascinating), but this one takes so long to connect all the threads, without However, dig deep enough into the heroes, and the resolutions are so convoluted that the fiction takes the form of a tedious puzzle.
To summarize, the series requires an investment from the viewer which is too great in relation to the satisfaction felt.
Furthermore, empathy struggles to emerge with the protagonists, whether they are the parents of the young person targeted by the kidnapping (Claire Danes and Timothy Olyphant) or the Guyanese kidnappers trapped in a vicious cycle.
“Full Circle” is therefore a stylized work where the form convinces more than the substance.
Editor's note:
2.5/5
"Full Circle",
American series by Steven Soderbergh (2023), with Claire Danes, Timothy Olyphant, CCH Pounder… Episodes 1 and 2/6 (57 and 39 minutes)