As a movie, The Square, a low-budget Australian thriller produced sometime in 2008, is far less energetic than its DVD preview would have you believe, but is saved by a first-rate script that renders it reminiscent of the best noir flicks.
Written by Nash Edgerton and Matthew Dabner, it details how the life of a construction foreman (David Roberts) begins to rapidly unravel after the hairdresser (Claire van der Boom) with whom he’s having an affair brings him a bag full of cash and asks him to run away with her.
This is a thriller set on low simmer. There’s no breathless urgency, no flashy editing and barely any score. At times I wish it had one or all of those things, but Edgerton (who also directed) and Dabner do such a skillful job showing how neatly events escalate out of control for Roberts–including his accidentally committing murder more than once–that I ultimately didn’t mind.
It helps that the cast is relatively unknown, at least in the US. This goes especially for Roberts, who does a great job as an everyman in over his head in a desperate bid to a leave a lackluster marriage. He makes the man’s desperation and guilt perfectly palpable. Everyone else does decent work, including Edgerton’s brother Joel and Australian acting legend Bill Hunter in a colorful cameo.
Overall, it’s slightly better than your average mystery flick, lack of production values notwithstanding, and even features a brief but well-shot car chase and a superbly shocking finale. If you like it, check out The Bank or Lantana, a couple of excellent thrillers from Down Under that are decidedly more polished. – [DVD]
Drama/Thriller
Rated R
DVD Release Date: 8/24/10