The Square

The Square

Winner of the 2017 Palme D'or, this is one of the last couple of movies I'm making sure to see before starting my Favorites of the Year list.

This is my first Ruben Östlund film, since I still haven't gotten around to seeing Force Majeure, but based on this movie it's clear that he's a confident director with a lot of thoughts. The problem with this particular movie is that instead of committing to one thought and fully exploring it, he just tossed all of his thoughts into one two and a half hour movie.

The main theme of the film seems to be the bystander effect, where someone sees someone else in trouble and they make the choice to ignore it. There's a lot of emphasis on people ignoring the homeless, along with some more extreme examples as the film goes. Even the titular "square" of the film is an art piece that is supposed to create a space where people aren't ignored in this way, so clearly this must be the thesis of the film. Well, kinda. But not really. Technically the central plot of the film is about an art curator who gets pickpocketed, so when he tracks his phone and sees it's in an apartment complex, he puts an accusatory letter in every single apartment. This is a great idea for a movie. But then there's a different plotline between him and Elizabeth Moss that doesn't go anywhere, another where the museum puts out a controversial promotion for their next exhibit, and then there's the emphasis on the ignored homeless and the bystander effect. Three different movies are happening here: a study of the bystander effect, a man who threatens an entire apartment complex after being pickpocketed, and an art museum that puts out a horrific ad for their next exhibit. If Östlund could have picked one premise I think he could have had a really fascinating and focused film on his hands, but instead it's a messy, unfocused movie that's tough to get invested in because there are too many ideas and none of the characters are particularly interesting.

Claes Bang plays the main character as a good, charming guy who suddenly has way too much on his plate, and he plays that decline well. He's really the only character I could get a handle on. Elizabeth Moss is a great actress, but here she's given almost nothing to work with. The same goes for Dominic West, who is literally in two scenes despite being Dominic West. Everyone else in the film is fine, with the notable exception of Terry Notary, who is absolutely brilliant. I didn't realize there was more than one Andy Serkis, but this guy is it. The "monkey man scene" is definitely the highlight of the film, and it rests almost entirely on Notary's performance. See it for that scene alone. But it's so strange to me that this film had a two and a half hour runtime and yet had only one or two interesting characters. This again goes back to needing to focus on a premise and fully exploring it.

Movies aren't required to just have one idea or topic, they can have a lot, but those ideas all need to be under the same blanket premise otherwise it'll be impossible to know what the movie is about. Magnolia focuses on several different stories, but the characters are wonderful and it all falls under the blanket premise of coincidence, which it states at the very beginning of the movie. If The Square's blanket premise is the bystander effect, then what's that commercial story supposed to be about? And the apartment complex only somewhat fits within that premise. Östlund needed to find the central idea of his film and have it blossom from there.

I'm not really sure if I'd recommend this film. If you're into cinematography I'd say check it out, cause there are some gorgeous shots. If your'e into art you'll get a kick out of some of its satirization of the art world. If you just wanna see it because of all of the accolades it's been receiving (which was definitely me), then check it out and see what you think. Overall I thought it was a mess that I could never quite get invested in, but you might get more out of it than I did. Regardless, check out that monkey man scene. It's killer.