The Square

2017 comedy

Rating: 15/20

Plot: Problems escalate for the curator of a modern art museum after his wallet and cellphone are stolen.

Another 2017 look at empathy, this time while skewering the art world and all its pretensions and hypocrisies. I was surprised at two things here: 1) That the movie was so funny. 2) That the guy featured on most of the posters I'm finding of this (the shirtless one standing on a table) isn't in all that much of the movie.

I enjoyed this movie a lot, and it was the same part of my brain that enjoys The Big Lebowski. Especially with the first half, I thought it had a less-wacky Lebowski vibe. It wasn't the dialogue or all the bowling or anything especially Coen-esque. It was just a vibe, the way the story flowed. The movie's arguably too long, especially since some scenes don't really seem to impact the characters or the narrative, but I can't think of a single scene I'd want to lose. I mean, how are you going to take out that powerful and intense and darkly humorous scene with that shirtless guy on the table? Or the scene with the random chimpanzee? Or the scene where a guy with Tourette's blurts out "Show us your boobs!" and "Camel Toe!" during an interview with a pompous artist? Or the scene where the main character and a love interest are arguing over a prophylactic? Or a later scene when the two are discussing the meaning of their lovemaking beside a noisy art installation and a nosy museum guard lady? Or a scene where the main character and his partner-in-intimidation are jamming to a raucous electronic song on the way to do something dangerous, setting up a great bit of irony? Or a hilarious "Pick out the onions yourself" scene that you could almost argue is the heart of this movie?

There's great humor, but there's also a great, timely message at the center of this. In a way, it's a nice European companion to Three Billboards even though they're entirely different sorts of movies. Or maybe not entirely.

I can't compare this to any of the other Best Foreign Picture nominees because I haven't seen any of the other ones.