Friday, April 16, 2010
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Friday, April 16, 2010
MOVIE REVIEW
The Square
A Plan Is A Plan Is A Plan,
Except When It's Not
David Roberts as Ray in the Australian noir drama "The Square", directed by Nash
Edgerton and co-written by Joel Edgerton.
Daniel Guerra/Apparition
By
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
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Friday, April 16, 2010
Nash Edgerton's Australian noir drama "The Square" is a jarring suspense
thriller that hooks into you and doesn't let go. This tense and absorbing
film expanded its theatrical release today in the U.S., opening in San Francisco
and elsewhere. ("The Square" is being released as a double bill with Mr.
Edgerton's short film "The Spider", which precedes it.)
In "The Square", Ray (David Roberts) is a married man minding his business.
Perhaps. A construction site manager, Ray is unwittingly pulled into a
scheme diverted by his mistress-girlfriend Carla (Claire Van Der Boom), who
stumbles upon some ill-gotten gains from her husband Smithy (Anthony Hayes), who
is involved in a crime-ring.
Smartly written by Joel Edgerton and Matthew Dabner, based on an original story
by Joel Edgerton, "The Square" slowly but surely reveals the grim, darker heart
of human beings in ordinary circumstances pushed into extraordinary moments of
crisis. If money is the root of all evil, greed and desire may be running
neck-and-neck for a very close second place. Tightly-constructed and
well-acted, "The Square", released in Australia in the summer of 2008, is sharp,
thought-provoking and suspenseful.
Nash Edgerton, Joel's brother, who continues to do stuntman film work, directs
this morality tale efficiently, telling the audience only what it needs to be
told, and barely more than that. "The Square" is one of the year's best
films so far, and as an adult drama it works well because of its clear-cut story
and its messy intricacies and entanglements.
Like Sam Raimi's "A Simple Plan" and the Coen Brothers'
"No Country For Old Men", "The Square" executes
many of its smaller moments tremendously and stays with you long after it is
over. All of the actors impress, including Joel Edgerton as Billy, a man
looking out for his own interests in this grimy Greek tragedy-like tale.
Mr. Roberts is particularly good here as the embattled Ray, who gets in over his
head. We don't see the plastic bag that seems to suffocate Ray as he tries
to extricate himself from a sticky situation, but we certainly feel it.
With: Peter Phelps, Bill Hunter, Damon Herriman, Kieran Darcy-Smith, Lucy Bell,
Lisa Bailey, Hanna Mangan-Lawrence, Paul Caesar, Maree D'Arcy, Amanda Crompton,
Tracey Furtchmann, Luke Doolan, Greg Hatton, Julian Morrow, Eliza Logan, Stephen
Weston.
"The Square" is rated R by the Motion Picture Association Of America for
violence and language. The film's running time is one hour and
41 minutes.
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here.
Read Omar's "Far-Flung Correspondent" reports for America's pre-eminent Film
Critic Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times -
here
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