The Square

A seriously oddball piece of work, The Square follows art curator Christian (Claes Bang) as he’s beset by a number of personal and professional crises in the buildup to a new exhibit’s launch. It’s a fairly standard logline that’s employed as a springboard for an erratic and often thoroughly surreal drama, as filmmaker Ruben Östlund delivers an excessively overlong narrative (142 minutes!) that is, for the most part, rather episodic in its execution – with Östlund suffusing the proceedings with outlandish, art-house-friendly images and sequences. And while many of these moments are just too weird to make much of a positive impact, The Square‘s most engrossing and spellbinding stretch involves an unhinged performance artist (Terry Notary’s Oleg) and the degree to which he wreaks havoc at a fancy dinner party. It’s a showstopping interlude that stands in sharp contrast to the meandering nature of all that surrounds it, as the movie’s progressively hit-and-miss vibe is compounded by an increased emphasis on seemingly pointless episodes (eg a fairly interminable scene wherein advertising executives pitch their vision for a new campaign). By the time the somewhat underwhelming conclusion rolls around, The Square has confirmed its place as decent character study trapped within the confines of a bloated misfire – although, by that same token, it’s clear that Östlund’s undeniable talent ensures that the whole thing is, at the very least, never boring.

** out of ****