The Square (2008)

Directed by Nash Edgerton. Starring David Roberts, Claire van der Bloom, Anthony Hayes, Joel Edgerton, Hanna Mangan-Lawrence, Keiran Darcy-Smith, Peter Phelps, Brendan Donoghue, Bill Hunter. [R]

Complicated (but easy-to-follow) thriller is aswirl with neo-noir sin—infidelity, theft, embezzlement, extortion, arson, murder, and so forth—and the filmmakers make the most out of such familiar base ingredients. Under pressure from his mistress (van der Bloom) to either run away with her or call it off, construction site foreman Roberts goes along with a scheme to steal a bag full of cash from her criminal husband, but things predictably go from wrong to wronger. An uncommonly tense and bleak contraption, the twists and turns taken by the screenplay may not deviate too much from the genre’s format, but they do keep the viewers on their toes. The central “antihero” is developed as almost all great noir protagonists must be—understandable but unsympathetic, enough so to keep us involved in his/her dire dilemma without the burden of wanting to see the person avoid the unavoidable: a punishing, possibly fatal, fate. Debuting feature director Nash Edgerton doesn’t need to engineer gimmicks or employ camera tricks to maintain an undercurrent of suspense and dread; he shows what’s needed and lets the characters’ anxieties, foibles and regrets drive each scene. His brother, Joel, co-stars, co-scripted, and executive produced.

77/100