Hej, and welcome back to another Weekly Movie and TV Review!
The film we’re watching at this evening is none other than The Square. An aptly titled movie, but still strange when taken at face value. The Square is a 4×4 enclosure where, if one has a problem, all they need to do is enter the box and receive an answer. A splendid idea! But human beings are too selfish and self-seeking for the square to abide in reality. Or maybe that’s just my pessimism poking its ugly head out again. Anypoops, let’s be getting ittt!

Christian, the Chief Curator at X-Royal Museum (or the Stockholm Palace) in Stockholm, Sweden, has a pet project titled The Square, created by Argentine artist and sociologist Lola Arias. By definition, The Square is a sanctuary of trust and caring. Within its boundaries, we all share equal rights and obligations. However, like many other humanitarian efforts, the exhibit is nice but not novel. So, to gain the public’s attention, Christian and his team enlist the help of two idiot social media marketing specialists. Their goal solely: to go viral. The two idiots cook up the scheme of a blond beggar child being maimed within the square to stir the public’s interest—and boy, do they.

I have a few questions for The Square itself, so maybe if I stand inside long enough, it’ll answer me. Here we go: If I’m obligated to help the person in the square simply because I happened to walk by, can I choose to avoid it intentionally? Or am I obligated to help at least once in my life? What if the needs of the person inside the box exceed what I can give? Am I bound to fulfill their needs until I too need help? Is it possible to pass the bill? Is there a limit to how many times a person can enter the square daily? Hourly? Monthly? Yearly? How many squares are in the world? Or is that the only one in existence? A part of me feels like any group of people with resources may rise and monopolize it, removing access from the very people who need it the most. So who will police the police?

Anypoops, I believe some people subconsciously don’t like themselves, don’t feel they deserve good things, so they self-sabotage themselves right out of the hard-won achievements they manage to attain.
And that seems to be the case for our troubled protagonist. Christian, I feel, is dead set on destroying his life. I know this because I too have had many a moments where, after a lapse in judgment, I had the opportunity to reflect on my actions, and no other explanation was acceptable but self-sabotage. My butt cheeks are still clenching from the level of cringe each memory inflicts. But I digress. I looked into what it takes to work in the GLAM (Gallery, Library, Archive, and Museum) field—and to be a Chief Curator, no less. This absolutely has to be self-hatred. After being robbed, he and his subordinate, Michael, decide to write a not-so-friendly letter to the thieves who stole his belongings. Yeah, you could say that he succeeded in getting his phone and wallet back, but things could have easily gone much, much worse.

Sidenote: My guy parties with his crew inside the museum after hours. What if you break something? And what did the monkey man add to the story, really? Other than terrorizing the dinner guests, what was the reason?

Anypoops, I give The Square 3 out of 5 rose petals