Rent The Square (2017)

Contemporary Cinema at Its Best! - The Square review by TE

This is a superb film that repays second and third viewings. Ruben Ostlund is developing a fascinating line in examining the uncomfortable moral questions in contemporary life.

The overall narrative strips back our attitudes and values about shared public spaces, and within that structure are a series of smaller satires on modern urban life.

The extras include revealing interviews with Ostlund and the principal actors and are well worth watching. He certainly seems able to get brilliant performances from his cast.

Arty crafty. - The Square review by NC

Bit like the Japanese cartoons, you get it or you do not.........alas i do not see the angle on this film being clever/interesting. Was not really bothered about the characters at all. Self absorbed arty crafties, living on the excess of western world................

Scandinavian liberal boredom - The Square review by HM

A rambling film; anti-masculinity, be nice to immigrants, spread wealth about more fairly (I thought Scandinavian countries did that already?). A good old liberal arty outing. Sadly it rambles too much; 2.5 hours turned out to be irritating torture.

It won Palm D'or award which tells you something. You will be scratching your head through most of this unengaging tale. Find something that actually tries to entertain instead of giving a lame, hard to fathom lecture. Thumbs down.

The Square - a review - The Square review by WS

Some familiar themes from Ruben Östlund's other work are quickly recognisable here – embarrassment, guilt, male insecurity and the fact that no code of etiquette or morals can ever prepare you for the ridiculous and perverse situations that life throws at you.

There are two main threads to the story – one is Christian and his colleagues preparing for the opening of a new exhibition, whose theme is to be kindness and trust. We witness a press conference, the team planning a promotion strategy, and later, the fall-out from a disastrous viral marketing campaign. The other strand is when Christian has his phone and wallet stolen on the way to work. Using the tracking device installed on the phone he locates the thief’s multi-storey apartment building – but he doesn’t know the thief's exact address. His co-worker Michael tells him he should post a letter to every flat threatening unpleasant consequences if the items are not returned. When Christian voices doubts, Michael tells him to "stop being so Swedish" and that "now's not the time for political correctness". The plan works but their actions have unintended consequences later on.

I liked the central character, Christian - he is polite and considerate to others, takes his professional and family responsibilities seriously - but is believably flawed, prone to occasional outbursts of passive-aggressive behaviour and denial of responsibility. One of my favourite moments was when a homeless woman in a diner asks Christian to buy her a chicken panini without onions. He orders her the panini, onions and all, saying "take them out yourself!"

The film is elegantly photographed, with excellent use of light, and makes good use of the large interior spaces – notably in the “apeman” performance art scene in the banqueting hall which you have seen in the trailer. Some may find it slow-moving; it’s not that any of the scenes feel redundant, but they often seem to progress rather slowly, with static long takes and rambling conversations, so that at times it almost has a mock-documentary feel to it.

Watching it at the cinema I found the slowness and the lack of a clear-cut ending a bit frustrating, but it grew on me afterwards. It makes you think about the value of modern art whilst gently poking fun at the wackier side of it, and asks us if it is possible to be a good person in an increasingly fragmented and chaotic world. Yes, it's very much a film about middle-class problems, but I can't imagine a better film about middle-class problems being made this year.

Quirky, contemporary Scandi take on life.. - The Square review by Rod

An film for the box marked: "odd, but stick with it..."

For me, it was a story with some similarities to 'Bonfire of the Vanities' - where the upper echelons of society have a fragility that can come unstuck very easily, when interacting by chance with the underclass - in this case, via the robbery of the leading character and his persistence in following it up. I had an abiding feeling of insecurity in that there was always a chance that Christian (and his daughters) could come to a sticky end - see the film to find out.

There was an interesting style to the cinematography - where speakers and 'noises off' were substituted by views of the listeners reactions (or lack of). The film also had a kind of abiding 'chill' about it, where the outward sophistication of those in the world of arts were subject to a degree of murkiness and sleaze, always just below the surface - maybe a reflection of real life?? Overall, were they speaking Danish or Swedish? I could never quite tell....

Just sit back and enjoy the weirdness. - The Square review by YR

Some of the reviewers of this movie seem angry because this isn't their style of comedy. To each, their own. Personally, I enjoyed this a lot because it was so unpredictable. It's a dry black comedy, full of uncomfortable situations. Our protagonist is a man named Christian who has reached the top of the art world in Sweden, as head curator of a very prestigious art gallery in Stockholm. Despite his high position, he's a mess... acting recklessly, needlessly damaging his own career and personal life. Early in the film, he appears to be a victim of a scam. In response, he goes about tackling the scam in such an incompetent way that he ends up making a further mess. Beyond the shenanigans of Christian, this is also a satire of the upper crust of the art world. I'm not a member of that world, but I could appreciate some of the jokes. Some of the targets include (1) incomprehensible art-writing, (2) the aggrandisement of poorly-made art which pretends to be socially conscious, (3) the desire to be provocative for its own sake, and (4) the vacuity of performance art. In regards to performance art, there is an incredible sequence where a man (very accurately) behaves like a chimpanzee during a prestigious banquet. That sequence alone is worth the price of admission. Indeed, I believe this whole film is a piece of performance art. It's not just a satire and a comedy about a loser, but I think the filmmaker is deliberately messing with the audience. We want our protagonist to be a hero and he isn't. We want the mystery to be solved, but it isn't. We want the film to make sense, but it doesn't! Perhaps there's a lot of deeper meanings that I missed, but that's why I'll watch it a second time.

Art installation masquerading as film - The Square review by Alphaville

The film started as an art installation and it shows. It’s even a satire about that same art installation. Like much of modern art, it’s little more than a concept that fails to materialise into anything worthwhile. It’s the kind of minimalist European cinema that wins awards at film festivals (step forward in shame Cannes) and has you puzzling why. Long, static camera shots of documentary-style talking heads make for a tough and pointless watch. More for the emperor’s-clothes art crowd than lovers of good film.